107-point plan to cure hospital's ills
HEALTH bosses believe a comprehensive programme of improvements at Stafford General Hospital will, in time, win back public trust.
The scandal-hit hospital has been at the centre of House of Commons debates, and a major inquiry, since it was revealed between 400 and 1,200 more patients than would be expected died there over a three year period to 2008.
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Now patient care, staffing levels, facilities, equipment, procedures and systems are all being overhauled under a total of 107 goals for improvements, expected to be achieved within the next eight months.
The transformation programme outlining the aims, called Confidence in Care, has been produced in response to the recommendations of the Healthcare Commission and subsequent reports into hospital standards by Professor Sir George Alberti and Dr David Colin-Thome.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stafford Hospital, has already outlined its intention to recruit 40 extra nurses. And while the prospective new nurses are completing their training at the School of Nursing, the hospital is using nursing bank staff, to plug the gaps.
The trust's interim chief executive, Eric Morton, below, admitted many of the 107 improvements are basic measures already taken for granted at most hospitals.
But he said: "The transformation programme is an important step on the road to a brighter future for the trust.
"It is clear that for a period of time the hospital lost its way and failed to put patient safety at the top of its agenda.
"The local population have got to feel proud of their hospital and we can re-establish that pride and confidence in the hospital. People are nervous anyway coming into a hospital, the negative publicity will make some people more nervous. I hope we can assure them they will be treated with dignity and care.
"Staffing is the most obvious thing people will focus on and we want to get our staffing levels right. We will then look at it again to make sure it is still right."
The cost to the trust of implementing the improvement programme has yet to be worked out, but Mr Morton says it will be a "seven figure sum".
Low staffing levels, inadequate nursing, lack of equipment and a target driven management board were blamed by the Healthcare Commission for a series of "appalling" failings at the hospital.
Chief executive Martin Yeates resigned from his £169,000-a-year job in charge of the hospital earlier this month. He had been suspended on full pay since March.
It has emerged Mr Yeates could receive at least £400,000 from the Trust, along with a £65,000 annual pension worth more than £1 million.
The £400,000 payment is believed to include at least £110,000 in salary accrued while suspended and a £300,000 tax-free lump sum.
Interim chief executive Mr Morton would not be drawn on the details of Mr Yeates' severance, other than to say: "Martin Yeates has had his contractual entitlement."
He added: "Staff have taken a bruising over the past 12 months, it's been a difficult environment to work in."
Related links:
Bosses quit at hospital investigated over death rates
Shamed chief resigns after being suspended
Comments
by angela, kidsgrove
Thursday, May 28 2009, 9:04AM
“"a diificult place to work in" my heart bleeds.......how about the my 90 year old grandmother who was butchered by having her leg cut off because NO ONE would get her an air matteress, so it went gangrenous through pressure sores...oh yes were are suing!
How about the lady next to my gran, that was choking to death on her food, the sister in charge merely pulled the curtains across and left her to it.
Now let be clear not all the staff a Stafford are scum some are wonderful,BUT and i mean DOCTORS, as well as nurses and carers, are pure evil, and lets not forget Yeats..... obviously now hes rich he can run for mp!
The report is as usual too little too late, people are still suffering in stafford, trust me, go round the wards, its no different..... trays of food where patients cant reach reach them,
buzzer no where near patients,
people so desparate for the toilet, that they soil themselves, and dont even get me started on patients in need of pain relief, crying in agony.
So here we are, no investation, a moron of a politition who worked at Stafford for a day or so to see how things were and this idiot missed all of this going one, the house of commons pusing it under the table and the scum bag in charge at he time getting huge tax free lumps.
So I'd like to know......how many were mutilated and murdered in Stafford Hospital, and who oh why is no one being made to explain it, let alone take responsiblity.
I'm sicked by the the total lack of sympathy for the patents and family and horrifed by Mortons' difficult woking environment..... you think thats tough then try being a patient there........”