Legal challenge to hospital cuts

URGENT ACTION REQUIRED!
BBC Calls On Hemel Residents To Call In To Radio Show!

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Following the decision of the West Herts Hospital Trust (WHHT) to close acute services at Hemel Hempstead so that people have to use Watford, BBC 3 Counties Radio have decided to dedicate their breakfast show (Roberto Perrone, see this link for frequencies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/have_your_say/radio.shtml) to the subject of health in Herts and Beds.

Roberto is hoping to interview David Law (CEO WHHT) at 7.45am, followed by MPs Mike Penning, David Gauke, Anne Main and Claire Ward. The producers are appealing for people to call in to the programme (08459 455555) between 8.00am and 9.00am to talk about the following points:

1.                   Why Hemel Hempstead Hospital is important to you.

2.                   Any concerns you have about health services in Herts and Beds.

The programme will then be copied onto CD and forwarded to Patricia Hewitt, along with other leading politicians, inviting them to join Roberto on a date in the near future to broadcast a programme dedicated entirely to this subject.

URGENT ACTION REQUIRED!
ITV Call On Hemel Residents For Stories!
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Things are getting more exciting by the minute! A representative from ITV News has just called the campaign to say that they would like to interview people local to Hemel Hempstead who have had planned surgery cancelled at our hospital recently. They are making a report about the financial crisis of the NHS and have chosen our hospital as an example.

Save Hemel Hempstead Hospital Campaign On BBC Radio
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16th November 2006 BBC 3 Counties Radio

If you missed the Drive Time (Ronnie Barbour) programme (Thursday 16^th) or Roberto's show this morning but would like to listen again, please go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/local_radio/index.shtml

Then click on 'listen again', then on the show you require in the A-Z section – Ronnie Barbour for last night or Breakfast for Roberto.

They were excellent programmes, with many people calling in about the cuts and several interviews with interested parties, please listen if you have time!

Hospital Trust to Save Nearly £5 Million

THE trust which runs hospitals in West Herts has come in for further criticism in a new report issued this week.

West Herts Hospitals Trust (WHHT) was graded below average in its day-care rates and admitting patients the day before an operation.

The report from the Department of Health, designed to show how trusts could eliminate wasteful procedures, suggest there is scope for the trust to save nearly £5 million alone by reducing its percentage of pre-operation bed days which currently stands at 29.5 per cent - one of the highest figures in the country.

A total of 16 performance indicators has been sent to all trusts detailing how to improve and save cash.

A spokesperson for WHHT said the figures in the report were a useful tool in balancing their performance against other trusts and also identifying and sharing best practice.

She added: "We do admit a large proportion of our planned admissions on the day of the operation and we are looking into ways we can increase this.

"We have dedicated surgical admission lounges at both Watford and Hemel Hempstead General Hospital which are proving to be a great success and contribute to our overall productivity."

She added that they were increasing the number of day-case treatments.

THE closure of a vital hospital service for elderly patients will have "catastrophic" consequences, a GP has warned.

Dr David Lewis, of The Tudor Surgery, Bushey Mill Lane, learned by accident this week that Saracen Ward, also known as the elderly day hospital, at Watford General Hospital will close on Tuesday, October 31.

West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust operates the facility, which is funded by West Herts Primary Care Trust (PCT).

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The PCT has now decided to axe funding for the service.

Dr Lewis said the day hospital provided an important service for elderly patients who have a number of ongoing health problems that need investigation and diagnosis, over and above what GPs can easily do during home visits.

The service treats about ten people a day.

He said: "For example, if you had a patient who had diabetes, a heart condition and stomach problems, they could be referred to the day hospital and have all these things looked at.

"It provides a one-stop shop for patients. I see it as a beacon of excellence in the local health service."

He said the decision to close it will leave patients and their families "high and dry", and described it as "a step backwards" from a holistic approach to caring for individuals.

He said: "I'm quite disgusted by the fact there's been no consultation on this, and that the PCT haven't written to GPs to tell them it's closing.

"Several of my patients have benefited hugely from the service."

Dr Lewis added: "A colleague of mine has told me the closure of a similar service at Luton and Dunstable Hospital was catastrophic for patients."

He said the difference is that instead of going into the day hospital patients would now have to wait for an outpatients appointment.

Whereas patients needing a procedure such as a blood transfusion may be able to secure an appointment at the day hospital, elderly patients would now have to wait months.

PCT representative Rose Child said when the unit closes, patients will receive the services it provides either in their homes from district nurses and early intervention teams, or elsewhere in Watford General.

The services currently provided include outpatient appointments, blood transfusions, therapy, tests and assessments.

She said patients will continue to receive these services, despite the day hospital shutting, so no consultation on the decision was necessary.

She said the PCT has not yet written to GPs because the details of the closure have yet to be finalised.

A similar service at Hemel Hempstead Hospital is also due to close at the end of October.

Eileen Whitehouse, from the West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, said day hospital staff would be re-deployed within Watford General.

9:19am Friday 20th October 2006

Watford Observer

The Herts Advertiser 24

Hemel, St Albans and Watford Hospital boss admits failures

David Law explained that the decision had led to the West Herts Hospitals Trust failing to meet the requisite standard on A&E waiting times in Healthcare Commission gradings released last week.

He said: "We had particular problems with A & E last winter and reduced bed numbers to balance our finances but we couldn't sustain performance. We are now back up to an improved standard and have been for the last four to five months. We have the flexibility in our bed capacity to meet the demands of the service."

The trust, which runs St Albans City, Hemel Hempstead and Watford Hospitals, was among only 24 trusts in the country to score weak for both quality of services and use of resources.

It was branded a poor performer by the Healthcare Commission which produced the annual health check that this year replaced the star system with a four-point scale ranging from excellent to poor.

But Mr Law believes that if the trust is able to push ahead with centralising emergency care at Watford and planned surgery at St Albans City, its score will improve in future years

The trust maintains that with its financial deficit - which now tops £41 million - it can no longer continue to operate full services on each site.

The fact that it had a deficit of any size meant that as a non-foundation trust it was automatically marked down as weak for its quality of resources in the annual health check.

Mr Law stressed that the trust's objective was to get back into financial balance on a month-to-month basis and despite the size of the deficit was being seen as moving in the right direction by the Government.

On the quality of services, Mr Law said: "The findings reflect the fact that we are not delivering the services we need to in the organisation and until we start making the changes we are consulting on at the moment, we won't be able to get on top of the issues we face. We are badly over-stretched."

He stressed that despite the commission's findings, clinical outcomes at trust hospitals were good and staff commitment to patients was very high. "I don't want people in the community to feel they won't get a good clinical service when they come in," he added.

Some of the areas in which the trust fell down involved recording and documentation in areas of health promotion such as obesity and smoking during pregnancy.

But it also failed to meet the requisite standard on several frontline issues including cancelled operations and incidents of the superbug MRSA.

Mr Law said that the trust had a strong focus on MRSA and the associated superbug Clostridium difficile and programmes in place to control infection but there was currently insufficient capacity to isolate enough people.

He added: "With the proposal for change to Watford we would have an assessment unit with half the beds being single rooms so isolation procedures would be much stronger."

While he admitted there would be difficult times ahead, he was confident that the trust would improve. "We have a strong board and executive team and we know what we need to implement. There is a lot we can do but without that fundamental change that we are consulting on, we won't be able to deliver that standard of care.

"Changes are under way to put more power and responsibilities into the hands of local health and social care commissioners and the individuals who use the services.

The BBC are running a feature all week next week about the NHS cuts. They are asking for people to email them on yourlondon@bbc.co.uk with details/photos/footage of any protests and demos. Also, they want to know the public's views on the hospital closures. Email them asap!

Thanks to Jan Maddern of the Save Hemel Hempstead Hospital Campaign for supplying this information.

A DIAL-A-NURSE service will be launched by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt this week to slash 22 MILLION hospital visits.

Her plan will put specialist nurses on the end of a phone around the clock and save nearly £90million a year.

The move - coupled with more GPs doing minor ops - will halve the 45 million outpatient appointments made annually.

It means people recuperating from serious illness will no longer have to turn up for costly, time-consuming consultant sessions.

The average seven-day hospital stay for surgical patients will be cut as the specially trained nurses supervise care at home by phone.

Breast cancer patients will be able to reduce a four-day hospital stay to just 23 hours if they opt for chemotherapy at home.

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The dial-a-nurse scheme has already been successfully piloted with 400 cancer patients at the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester.

Now Ms Hewitt will roll it out nationwide making a colossal saving on the average £208-a-day cost of a hospital bed.

Health minister Norman Warner said: "What patients want is the right care in the right place, performed by the appropriate skilled person.

"This will help the NHS move many millions of procedures outside hospitals, improving convenience."