Heath trust chief sets out ambition for Shropshire hospitals
"We want to be the safest healthcare provider in the NHS" - that is the message from the Shropshire's main hospitals boss following his first four months in charge.
Simon Wright, chief executive of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), said although there were challenges the trust was making "headway".
Mr Wright said A&E performance at the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal hospitals needed to improve, and admitted that the trust's financial position remained "a challenge".
He also said he remained committed to reaching a decision on the Future Fit review for the future of Shropshire's healthcare. And he spoke of his desire for the trust to gain university teaching hospital status, which he said would help attract more staff.
Mr Wright, who took up his post in September following the retirement of Peter Herring, said: "Supported by our Virginia Mason partnership, we want to be the safest healthcare provider in the NHS."
Staff from SaTH are currently being mentored by the Virginia Mason Institute in Seattle, Washington, which is known for its programmes to reduce healthcare operating costs.
During the first four months of Mr Wright's job he said he has focused on four key areas – A&E performance, finance, strategy and leadership.
He said: "A&E performance still needs improvement. We now have a unified action plan which has been signed off.
"There has also been a £500,000 investment in A&E at Telford and the introduction of new cubicles.
"We are clearly seeing the advantages of that as the patients using those new cubicles could have potentially been seen on the corridors before.
"We have done a range of things to manage winter pressures.
"So far the plan has been successful in preventing 12-hour trolley breaches and maintaining care for patients.
"In regards to finance it is clearly a challenge. We don't want the deficit position to get any worse and want to change that to a surplus."
He added: "Future Fit was stalled in the summer. However, I am clear that we will be making a decision.
"At the moment our population is losing out and we are losing services to Stoke and Birmingham.
"We want to retain and bring back our services so patients do not have to travel so far.
"We should reach a conclusion by the end of the year."
