Hunt: ‘tough new approach’ to failure
pharmafile | September 19, 2013 | News story | Medical Communications, Sales and Marketing | Francis report, Jeremy Hunt, NHS, hospital
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has set out what the government calls a ‘tough new approach’ to improve performance in hospitals which have failed to deliver good patient care.
NHS hospitals which are deemed ‘elite’ because of their high standards of care and safety will be given contracts to transform those which have been put into ‘special measures’.
Eleven hospitals in England were put on notice in this way – which means they have lost their freedom to operate autonomously – following a report on their mortality rates by NHS medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh.
There has been considerable public hand-wringing – and several reports – since the scandal of poor patient care at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust came to light.
The Health and Safety Executive has already announced it is to bring criminal charges against the Trust although a report published in BMJ Quality & Safety this month warned that Mid Staffs is unlikely to be the only ‘dark spot’ in the NHS.
Hunt (pictured) said that turning these hospitals round is his top priority. “In place of the old approach of paying management consultants to analyse the problems, we are giving contracts to the best in the NHS to implement solutions they have tried and tested,” he said.
“With the help of inspiring NHS leaders and their teams from our leading hospitals, I am confident that we can get these hospitals out of special measures and on the road to recovery,” Hunt added.
The government says more senior clinicians – as well as “fresh talent from outside the NHS” – will also be recruited to manage NHS hospitals under a new fast-track scheme.
University Hospitals Birmingham has been partnered with two trusts – George Eliot and Burton Hospitals – and Birmingham’s chief executive Dame Julie Moore told Radio 4’s today programme this morning: “Having hospitals connected in groups is probably the way of the future. It’s worked well elsewhere in the world.”
On the same programme Chris Ham, chief executive of health think-tank The King’s Fund, agreed: “We need a team from successful high-performing hospitals to support those in difficulty over a long time.”
However, he issued a caveat: “This could produce some real benefits, but we’ve got to get the detail right.”
The high-performing hospitals will have contracts with the NHS Trust Development Authority or the NHS regulator, Monitor, to support the Trusts in special measures.
They will be paid for their time – and could also be paid extra from an incentive fund if their help “produces real results”, the government explains.
Each of the 11 Trusts under the microscope will be forced to publish improvement plans on the NHS Choices and will give monthly updates on progress.
The 11 Trusts and their elite partners are:
· North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust partnered with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
· United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust/Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
· East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust/Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
· George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust/University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
· Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust/Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
· Tameside Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
· Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
· Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
· Medway NHS Foundation Trust (partner to be confirmed)
· Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (partner to be confirmed)
· Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Adam Hill
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