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Hospital boss answers back
Saturday 20th June 2009, 11:00AM BST.
Shropshire hospital boss Tom Taylor today hit back at stinging criticism from the leader of Telford & Wrekin Council and warned that attacks on the way things were being run could undermine public confidence.
Mr Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, delivered a strongly worded response after Councillor Andrew Eade highlighted a string of failings at the Princess Royal Hospital.
His scathing letter also went to trust chairman Professor Margaret Bamford.
Councillor Eade demanded immediate action to halt a slide in services and catalogued examples of issues at the hospital which he claimed illustrated how low standards had sunk. Mr Taylor, in an equally hard-hitting letter responding to the criticisms, says: “I have never maintained that everything is perfect.
“The unprecedented levels of activity we have experienced in recent months, sometimes from inappropriate referrals compounded by discharge problems which can be outside the control of the trust, has meant that at times it has been difficult to provide care to the standards we all aspire to.
“This is, however, an issue for the whole health community of Telford & Wrekin, Shropshire and Powys to resolve, and not just a hospital trust problem. My immediate concern, however, is that the people we all serve could begin to lose confidence in the services provided when in fact the standards across the range of care we provide are better than they have ever been.”
Mr Taylor says waiting times are at their lowest since records began, hospital infections have been reduced by more than 60 per cent and 90 per cent of people who have experienced in-patient services rated them good to excellent for the third year running.
He points out that the trust, which has increased staffing levels by 250 since October 2007, continues to labour under obstacles of paying off historic debts and dealing with ever increasing demands on services.
Councillor Eade said: “As an elected body, the council has a duty to raise the many concerns voiced by residents about the quality of health care delivered in the borough.”
By Health Correspondent Dave Morris
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Good – about time the trust gave a robust response. So often not allowed to respond. Always 2 sides to a story. People need to stop attending A & E when they don’t need emergency treatment and GPs need to stop admitting people to hospital because they cannot be bothered to see the patient.Often problems with getting people home when well enough as no one will take them. Patients need to turn up for appointments. T & W council need to stop hospital bashing to get publicity, undermine patient confidence and see the real problem as it’s staring them in the face.Shame they are choosing not to. We have a fantastic hospital service, but far too easy to complain than praise isn’t it?
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I think we have to be honest and say that it probably isn’t a ‘fantastic’ service – either at PRH or anywhere else in the UK. But most of the problems are down to those outlined by CT in their post.
The operation of the NHS is NOTHING to do with Telford and Wrekin Council or indeed any other local authority, and it’s certainly no business of Councillor Eade, who was using PRH as a means of gaining a bit of cheap publicity.
He needs to look closer to home (ie T&W Council) if he wants to start spouting about inefficiency and poor management. At least that’s something that IS his problem!
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Cllr Eade can demand all he wants, in essence this is nothing to do with him, if he wants some say so with the PCT I suggest he tries to get on the board if he has the skills they require.
It’s always comforting when requests from the tax-payer for actions by the council are poo-poo’d.
Perhaps Cllr Eade can explain why the Environmental Health staff seem to work Mon-Fri 9-5? They’re really going to be available to attend reports of noise when they really happen,i.e. at 1am on a Sat or Sunday.
People in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones.
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I fully agree with Jeepers. Cllr Eade should look closer to home.
It would be interesting to see how many inefficiencies there are in T&W run services such as, amongst others: Education, Social Services and indeed within their own administrative departments.
Just one example is the 3 month backlog on assessing whether a person with mobility problems should have their blue badge renewed – even if they have had one for the past 5 years.
Cllr Eade and his colleagues should get their own house in order before casting stones at vital services which are outside of their remit.
After all, I haven’t seen any efficiency changes in T&W since Cllr Eade’s party came to power. That is of course except their rates department which is very efficient in mercilessly chasing our struggling small businesses for business rates.
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he says he has taken on 250 since 2007 well thay are not new posts . the ONLY PERSON WHO CAN HIRE STAFF IS TOM TAYLER so if prh is under staffd its his fault
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MY GP sent me to MAU word @ PRH back in Novemeber due to chest pains and finding it hard to breath. (He had ran up before I went to check they had a bed)I arrived with the letter from my GP to say they could take me on the ward as I needed to go through A&E. So I went to A&E booked in and waited to be seen I was then put in a side room not in the main A&E section but round corner in a side room. I waited again for someone to come and explain to me what was happening or even to have tests done. I had an ECG and bloods take. Then I got moved out of that room because they needed it for something else. Bare in mind I’m in pain and struggling to breath. A consultant then calls me back and tell’s me from my results it looks like I have got a blood clot hence for the chest pain and struggling to breath. After 8hours I then get taken to a ward for treatment. I just can’t believe it took 8hours for them to find out what was wrong. When the consultant came round the next day he told me just how serouis it was and what could of happened to me if they had left it any longer.
I’m shocked that Mr Taylor is not doing more to make sure that the hospital is fully staffed and that the care of pateints seems to be missing off the top of the list. We pay enough money each year to make sure our hospitals are up to standards and there not.
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As a child, I was taught not to answer back.
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