Shropshire Star

Oswestry hospital chief refutes 'cost before care' claim

The chairman of Shropshire's orthopaedic hospital trust board has refuted suggestions that it put saving money before the care of its patients.

Published

Frank Collins said those running Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital were "totally committed" to quality care for its patients.

He was responding to an allegation made by George Rook of the hospital's patients' panel at yesterday's meeting of Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust board.

It followed an announcement in June by governing body Monitor that it was investigating why too many patients were waiting longer than the 18-week national target for day-case or inpatient procedures at the trust. Only about 80 per cent were seen within the target time.

Board members were told how the hospital was dealing with the problems.

Latest figures showed targets are now being met, with 92 per cent of people being treated with 18 weeks of being referred.

But Mr Rook asked why the hospital had not acted to manage its waiting list back in 2013 when, he said, it had become clear that it was beginning to lengthen.

"You should have managed capacity better or moved waiting patients to other providers when you knew you were not going to be able to treat patients in 18 weeks," he said.

"The board was more interested in avoiding penalties than providing timely care to the patients," he added.

Mr Collins said in response: "This is an organisation that is totally committed to quality care for our patients.

"Never once in my time in this trust have I come across any indication of a situation where we decided to put the balance sheet ahead of patient care."

Wendy Farrington Chadd, the trust's chief executive, said the hospital shared Mr Rook's view that it had not been acceptable to be waiting as long as some patients had for care.

"His point is valid but is no longer the case here," she said.

"We have dealt with it and we have moved on."

Monitor's investigation was revealed in early June, when concerns were also raised that the trust had been inaccurately reporting waiting times.

Questions were asked about how accurately the trust was reporting its performance data for routine operations after potential problems were identified.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.