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Lancaster hospital’s poor planning ‘could put people at risk’
POOR admissions planning at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary is harming the hospital’s emergency department, according to the care watchdog.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report into an unannounced inspection of the A&E department in December.
The CQC had already issued a warning to the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust following the inspection in relation to staffing.
The report lifts the lid on other problems in the department including problems with staff training and poor bed management.
The trust says it is working with the CQC to address the issues.
Ambulance crews had also complained vehicles were “stacked” outside the department meaning crews were waiting with patients.
On the night of the inspection on December 21, there were no surgical beds on the surgical admissions unit, but there were people waiting for beds leading to the potential for people to be kept waiting in A&E, blocking the department.
Debbie Westhead, CQC regional lead for the North West, said: “This report highlights the other areas where the trust needs to make rapid improvements.
“We were concerned at the blockages caused by the trust’s failure to plan effectively for admissions. This has knock-on effects in A&E and could put people at risk of poor care.
“The trust must tell us how it how it will make sure it complies with the essential standards. We will check on progress.”
Trust chief executive Tony Halsall said: “I am concerned that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has identified a number of problems with these services.
“I understand that the issues identified by the CQC and Monitor recently, will have caused concern amongst local people. Our job now is to get the Trust back to providing the high quality care and services that the public deserve as quickly as possible.
“We are working with the CQC to make the changes needed to address the issues raised in this report and in their on-going investigation of emergency services at the Trust.”
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
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WilliamT
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 11:09 AMWe not only have the bonus culture, we have the payoff culture in which the management aristocracy tend to look after each other, while the Fred the Shred types receive accolades for cutting the jobs and salaries of the proletariat. The problem is not the 'management culture in the NHS', it's the management culture in University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay- and the masters of that culture are still hanging on looking for that £500,000 each in payment for going quietly, while their deputies wait in the queue for their turns at doing just the same thing. Sorting this problem is going to take more than a bit of shuffling around of the same people.
QED
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 08:57 AMTony Halsall seems to have had a pay increase of about £30,000 in the last three years whilst front line staff have faced a pay freeze. If he is forced out of office he could do worse than get advice from his namesake, Phil Halsall. He is reported to have got a payoff worth £500,000 from Liverpool City Council after allegedly falling out with Sir David Henshaw whose own payoff at £340,000 was not quite as big when he fell out with Council leader, Mike Storey. The Audit Commission are reputed to have described Liverpool City Council at the time as the worst financially managed authority in England.
QED
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12:05 PMSign the petition by all means but don't get the idea that this is all down to Tony Halsall. It is the result of the management culture in the NHS that has been getting worse and worse by the year.
Redruss
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 06:02 AMGet rid of the man responsible for this mess. Tony Halsall to stand down. Sign up now: http:epetitions.direct.gov.ukpetitions29317
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