MEASURES to reduce marathon queues at The University Hospital Of North Staffordshire have started to bring improvements.

Hospital patients and staff joined forces to tell regional health bosses about the lengthy queues which have plagued the accident unit for months.

They met senior executives from the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority (SHA), who spent a day at the University Hospital checking if new initiatives were starting to bring improvements.

The team's members divided to hold one set of talks with besieged nurses working in the Hartshill department, and another with patients who had been caught up in the chaos, together with local NHS watchdogs and community groups.

Now the SHA officials will decide if more changes need to be made at the centre, or whether those already introduced need more time.

A private healthcare consultancy has been at the unit throughout the winter and into the spring, examining why patients have faced delays on trolleys, sometimes running into dozens of hours. The company, Atos, has devised a range of measures and new systems to try to resolve the problems.

The meeting with staff was attended by Chris Bourne, secretary of the hospital branch of The Royal College Of Nursing, who said: "Nurses were very forthright but were pleased that their views were being listened to by people of such a senior level. They described how they had been saturated with change.

"But they also said that while there were still big problems and a long way to go, there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and there was now better patient flow than a few months ago.

"Chief executive Julia Bridgewater has now made this issue the trust's top priority, which is starting to show on the ground."

The twin meeting was also attended by campaign group Healthwatch co-ordinator, Ian Syme, who said: "It was a vigorous affair as members of the public had plenty to say.

"It was made brutally clear that with the hospital's beds constantly at near full capacity, more resources were needed for better intermediate care out in the community to take pressure off the trust.

"The hospital has some of the lowest death rates in the country so clearly there is no failure in duty of care from the staff."

In the first week since an extra ward opened to take pressure off the unit, 99 per cent of patients were treated and sent home or admitted to a bed within four hours – compared to a Government target of 98 per cent. A spokesman said: "We are thrilled with this figure but these are still very early days."

The attempt to make improvements was welcomed by a city councillor whose wife died within three months of being kept waiting 13 hours at the unit to be admitted to a ward.

Christine Follows, aged 61, of Lightwood, died of cancer on March 19 after being taken to the hospital with a chest infection in December.

Today her widower, Terry, said: "We doubt if we will ever know for sure if the delay and then subsequent discharge contributed to her death, but I am meeting a specialist soon to discuss what happened.

"These delays have been terrible, but I am glad the problem is now being taken seriously.

"I think one cause is how difficult it is to get a GP to visit very sick people at home.

"We had to call paramedics out to Christine seven times and if there is any doubt they always take you to the accident unit."

A trust spokesman said: "Our action plan into improving the urgent and emergency care pathway has now been in place for three months.

"As part of the Strategic Health Authority's performance management role, staff visited University Hospital to review our progress so far.

"In addition to looking at information demonstrating the trust's performance, they also talked to staff, patients and carers.

"The assessment will show where improvements are working well, if any of the plans need to be brought forward and if any further changes need to be made."

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