NEWS
T
he public inquiry into the pa- tient neglect scandal at Mid-
Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust has heard that local and national NHS chiefs wanted the original investigation cut short.
The inquiry heard that NHS chief executive David Nicholson urged the Healthcare Commission not to pay too much attention to the campaign group Cure The NHS.
The Express and Star newspa- per reported that in May 2008,
Nicholson, who had previously headed up the former Staffordshire and Shropshire Health Authority, said Cure The NHS did not repre- sent real patient concerns.
The inquiry also heard that Dr Bill Moyes, chairman of the founda- tion trust regulator Monitor, wrote to HCC chief executive Anna Walker in September 2008 say- ing the investigation should be cut short.
In October, Peter Shanahan,
the acting chief executive of the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority, also tried to have the investigation cut short because it was “dragging the hospital’s repu- tation down”.
But the Healthcare Commission watchdog resisted those calls, according to its head of investiga- tions Nigel Ellis, who said: “What I did see, throughout the investiga- tion, was a very strong message given to us, that we should desist and that we should stop at an
earlier point, which I simply don’t agree was the right thing to do. So we didn’t do it. There was every chance if we’d have stopped the investigation early and not com- pleted it fully, that these lessons would not have been learnt. I think that’s very likely.”
Ellis also told the inquiry, how- ever, that there was no evidence of external pressure on the HCC to remove the estimated excess deaths figure of 400 to 1,200 pa- tients from a draft report.
O
ne of the country’s best- rated and wealthiest NHS hospital trusts is cutting hundreds of jobs.
At least 360 posts, including front- line staff, are expected to be axed at the University College London Hospital following a major drop in funding and fewer contracts from the primary care trust.
It was named ‘hospital of the year’ in 2009.
Chief executive Sir Robert Naylor has said that low priority treat-
in that sense, with ‘flex’ needed in staff numbers.
ments will no longer be provided for free but insisted that job cuts would be focused on administra- tion and the back office.
He said fewer PCT contracts meant fewer staff, saying the hos- pital trust was just like a business
Campaigners held a demonstra- tion against the proposals at the hospital on May 17, while constit- uency MP Frank Dobson, a former Labour health secretary, spoke about the situation at a public meeting at Camden Town Hall.
Sir Robert is one of a number of senior health figures to discuss the NHS reforms with Paul Bate, the new adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron on health and so- cial care.
High inflation and other eco- nomic factors mean NHS trusts may have to make average an- nual savings half as big again as the current £20bn cuts exercise.
Monitor, which oversees NHS foundation trusts, has written to trust chief executives to warn that annual average savings of 6% or 7% may be needed, com- pared to the 4% called for at the moment.
T
he British Heart Foundation has called for basic life saving skills to be taught in schools after a survey carried out by the char- ity said 73% of schoolchildren wanted to learn how to resuscitate someone and give first aid whilst more than 75% of teachers and parents also agreed it should be taught.
The BHF wants emergency life support skills to be taught as part of personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) les- sons and alongside PE, citizen- ship and science.
Life-saving skills include CPR, which can help someone who’s had a cardiac arrest, and also covers how to deal with an uncon- scious person, serious bleeding,
choking and heart attacks.
Maura Gillespie, head of policy and public affairs at the BHF, said: “Teaching young people how
to save a life is as important as learning to read and write. They are skills which equip them for real situations they might face in their lives.”
A spokeswoman said: “The changes to the economic en- vironment mean all trusts will need to plan accordingly and some savings will be required. However, we should be clear that these assumptions are a reflection of the risks in the ex- ternal environment; they are not a directive to make cuts.
“Trusts will need to take account of the individual circumstances that exist within their local health economy, which could mean that they will need to take either a more optimistic or pessimistic approach than the one set out by Monitor.”
The Department of Health said the 6-7% estimate was a “downside case”, adding: “But it is right that Monitor’s assess- ments are challenging – we want all hospitals to be able to meet Monitor’s standards and show that they can provide sustain- able, high quality and efficient services for their patients.”
national health executive May/Jun 11 | 11
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