Tom Taylor

A top doctor has rallied to the defence of Shropshire hospital boss Tom Taylor after a parish council unanimously declared it had no confidence in him.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Mary Heber said that she had “every faith” in the chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. Mr Taylor, she said, had worked “tremendously hard” for the trust and for patients.

The no confidence vote was taken by Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council and followed the death at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital of retired civil servant Kathleen Mobbs, of Dawley.

After being sent to the hospital as an emergency by her GP, she died there from previously undiagnosed cancer after a seven-hour wait to see a doctor in the overstretched casualty department.

Nurses told her inquest last month they were struggling to cope on an almost daily basis with the sheer number of emergency patients and coroner Michael Gwynne said he would write to Mr Taylor, expressing concern at the “unacceptable pressure” on accident and emergency staff.

Dr Heber, who works at the Princess Royal, said: “Our hospitals see thousands of patients every day, and the feedback we receive indicates that the majority of them are pleased with the care they receive.

“Our patients can also expect good clinical outcomes from their care”.

For example, the mortality ratio for the trust, which also runs the Royal Shrewsbury, is among the best in the region, and far fewer people are re-admitted to hospital as emergencies following discharge, compared to the average rate for England.

“These are both important indicators of the clinical quality of the services provided by local hospitals,” said Dr Heber.

“Of course, sometimes things do not go as planned, and when this happens it is vital that we learn from this and make plans to continue to improve.

“We are always grateful for the feedback we receive from patients, good and bad, as this helps us to meet the expectations of local people.

“The staff also appreciate the many letters of thanks we receive from our patients,” he added.

The parish council vote, and the inquest, have highlighted the continuing high demands for emergency care being made on the county’s main hospitals.

But trying to get to the bottom of why they should be so busy is not easy, particularly as there are now more initiatives and services then ever before aimed at treating patients in the community and nearer to home.

Senior NHS figures within Shropshire all appear to agree that easing the pressure at Shrewsbury and Telford is something that needs to be tackled across the health “community” and not just by members of the hospital trust.

This was stressed yesterday by the trust’s chairman, Professor Margaret Bamford, again in response to the parish council’s no confidence vote.

She said there were “major opportunities” for the organisations that provide primary and community services to ensure that patients receive “the right care in the right place at the right time”.

This includes strengthening the support available to people to maintain their independence and avoid unnecessary admission to hospital.

It also includes developing improved packages of support for people who no longer need the specialist care provided by an acute hospital so that our beds are free for the people who most need them.

Over the last year the hospital trust saw on average more than 100 additional in-patients every month than the primary care trusts – which commission and pay for services – had planned for.

“All local health bodies need to work together to understand why this was the case and to make sure the best possible plans are in place for the year ahead,” said Dr Bamford.

Only last week, new figures presented to the hospital trust board, showed that 8,965 people were seen in the two A&E units during April – 431 more than had been planned for, and 696 more than in April last year.

The report said that the high number of patients had contributed to the units failing to hit their key waiting time target.

This national standard calls for 98 per cent of A&E patients to be admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours of registering but the trust figure was 96.66 per cent.

The emergency care issue is high on the agenda for next week’s board meeting of NHS Telford and Wrekin, which is the borough’s primary care trust.

A report says the main service provider – Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust – is experiencing “challenges” at the Princess Royal.

Waiting times of more than 30 minutes for ambulance turnaround at the Princess Royal have risen since last August.

The report outlines action that is being taken to improve the emergency care system.

Three audits have been carried out to help identify problems within the Princess Royal.

These have looked at, among other things, the reasons why patients attended A&E, patient “flows” within the hospital and delayed discharges (bed-blocking).

Urgent

The results of the studies are due to be reported to the chief executives of each of the four Shropshire NHS trusts next Wednesday.

The reports say the new GP walk-in centres due to open this summer should have a “positive effect” in relieving some pressure in A&E.

An urgent care pilot scheme is being planned and will see GPs working within the hospital to help assess emergency patients and direct them to alternative services.

And what is known as the Enhanced Care Team (ECT), which includes senior community nursing sisters, is continuing to prevent unnecessary admissions. Since its launch in January, 82 admissions have been avoided.

Brian Taylor, chairman of NHS Telford and Wrekin, said there was an urgent need for improvements.

Problems needed to be sorted before the usual winter pressures re-started, along with a possible flu pandemic.

“It is a top priority. A lot of senior staff are dealing with it daily,” he said.