Care review after Shropshire eye patients 'harmed'

The Royal College of Ophthalmology wasre asked to carry out a review of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) ophthalmology service last year following a series of serious incidents. The final report has now been received by commissioners and the trust.

The findings and recommendations of the review are being reviewed and an implementation plan will be developed and agreed locally between commissioners and providers.

In a report by Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) it said: "The findings of the review concluded that in cases where there was probable or possible evidence of harm as a consequence of the care the patients received, the root cause analysis undertaken by the trust accurately identified the principal contributing factors.

"It also noted that a number of measures have been put in place, or have been proposed, which will, if effectively implemented, substantially reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences in the future.

"The reviewers noted that SaTH has a strong commitment to reporting and learning from adverse events.

"However they also indicated that SaTH ophthalmology department will continue to be challenged by the numbers of people requiring its services and as a further safeguard against similar significant incidents to those reported, further work on population modelling and capacity planning needs to be undertaken jointly between SATH and Shropshire and Telford CCGs.

"The report proposed several other recommendations both the trust and commissioners related to future development of ophthalmology services.

"A review of the recommendations and proposal for implementation to address quality issues around planned care, booking and scheduling and inform an implementation plan is being supported by the eye steering group.

"An implementation plan has been requested to be submitted and following agreement this will be monitored regularly."