North Staffs Hospital Chief Executive quits

“£30 MILLION + IN DEBT and everyone saying she is Brilliant!....umhhhhhhhhh”

“stokieatheart, You miss the point.
If a hospital sacks staff then gives poor care and has no reserve and has managers who are not able and qualified to manage then this is what you get a Pseudo- Private hospital with a massive PFI loan with additional costs to keep open old areas and still staff are leaving and many want to leave. To force pay cuts and then wonder why staff leave.?? Is very easy for good managers to see.
The point about car parking shows the lack of understanding and several patients have been told the PCN will not be dropped this is utter madness and shows a lack of empathy and a poor culture of care and yes you are correct this is just car parking BUT the current management cannot deal with a simple issue on parking. Staff are forced to park off site and get a shuttle bus to work,such poor planning when a car park on many levels was easy to see. Tescos understands the need for large carparks. As for the comment on only so much land to build on then yes But put the disabled bays in the wasted open space in front of the hospital that has trees and benches!!! This is not a park it is a hospital. As for the 18 weeks wait it was in the papers that eye patients have not been seen and are being sent to private clinics and thus less money for the hospital. This is meant to be a flagship hospital it is anything but.
"On top of that the UHNS, based in Stoke-on-Trent, also suffered from a prolonged bout of boardroom wrangling last year which ended with the resignation en masse of the chairman, Calum Paton, and the non-executive board, amid recriminations of poor book keeping and, as Mr Paton accepts, his and his colleagues' taking their eye off the ball." The last paragraph taken from the Daily Telegraph in june 2006!! What has changed? Nothing at all managers who no ability to plan and work to budgets.
You are so correct on only so much money to go around but 190k a year for a chief ex who has failed is just an utter disgrace. The whole management team needs to go as they all have failed and they must be able to see this. The best asset in any hospital is the Clinical and Nursing staff the managers and assistant managers are seldom needed and lack any real expertise and ability. How many managers hold MSc qualifications? How may walk the job? How many go on the shop floor? Most sit in offices and attend meetings to discuss meetings and plan the next meeting they actually do nothing. Just my input and thoughts on what I see and am told.”

“Ahh yes, the marvellous new super hospital that only run a 'skeleton staff' at night (the words of the triage nurse I add, not mine)
I would actually drive to Burton A&E before I'd go to Stoke again because I'm sure I'd still be seen quicker.

As for outpatients. My child was offered an appointment with the consultant for March 2013 back in October 2012, yet through choose and book could be seen in Burton within 2 weeks. Not only was she seen, she has had all tests and is beginning treatment a full 2 months before her initial consultation at North Staffs.

Truly ****.”

“And the cost of the golden parachute is?.”

“cooljay - if the main complaint at UHNS is car parking then it is doing well. Car parking is an issue at most hospitals throughout the country, as hospitals grow then car parking spaces go. There is only so much land to build on. Yes its inconvenient but not a life threatening issue.

Valeplace - its been a government directive to get care back into the community, not consultants. however it was designed to help patents that had to travel for miles for hospital treatment to be treated more locally. Dont forget UHNS treats patients as far as Wales for specialist cancer care as its the closest hospital. We are lucky that we have such a large hospital on our doorstep.

hotdog - the PFI is questionable, but the old buildings weren't fit for purpose either. They couldn't be maintained because of old pipe work etc and infection control was difficult because of the materials used to build years ago is no longer recommended. I think there was still asbestos at the Infirmary site!!!

I can remember a time when there was 18weeks waiting lists for cancer patients, now its the leading centre for treatment and treatment is within 4 weeks. The maternity facilities are one of the best in the country. Theatres have actually increased and are being used 7 days a week so optimising usage. The bed issue is the same all over the country, however in Stoke the "community" services has a lot to answer for. They were supposed to deliver care in the community which enabled UHNS to reduce beds, but it hasnt happened. Same with A+E, there were supposed to be alternative treatment centres out of hours to ease the A+E footfall, again this hasnt happened.

I know UHNS isnt perfect there are still issues that need to be sorted regarding beds, waiting times etc, but its moved forward in so many ways. Having undergone cancer treatment 2 years ago, the staff literally saved my life and this was down to investments in treatment plans, innovative services and basic care.

In my opinion Mrs Bridgewater has done an excellent job in difficult circumstances, and in her job tough and unpopular decisions have to be made, there is only so much money to go round!”

“Perhaps something to do with the fact the hospital is presently 12 million in debt, and growing. That it has 300 less beds than are needed, a fact that has meant that part of the old hospital scheduled for closure most now remain open. That a hospital that cost £440 Million pound to build will cost £1.6 billion to repay? That it must find an extra £40 million a year to pay for the new hospital, with out any extra funding and must make 20% savings to meet government savings? That experienced staff have left in their hundreds as a recent initiative meant that many saw a reduction in their yearly income by £7, 000? That she is joining the Financial director that left a few months ago? Or perhaps it is something else? That many services have been sold off to the private sector including: portering, maintenance, cleaning, catering, and much else”

“We might deserve this so called 'super hospital', but what we don't deserve is the financial noose round the neck that it comes with!

As I've said for a long while now, this will cripple healthcare in Stoke-on-Trent and the wider community for generations to come and will only get worse as the population grows and gets older.

There simply is not enough money for granduer and splender like this, and the money would have been better spent upgrading the facilities that were on offer before, at least these buildings that housed the services were paid for, and I'm sure the maintenance on these was a lot less than £35-40million a year.”

“Something tells me Cooljay might be just a tad right,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,A MULTI-MILLION TONNE TAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Insanity used to be kept in Asylums years ago, now of course "it's OUT IN THE COMMUNITY" because we are told by top "consultants" that this way it's best for everyone,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Yeah, right.”

“What stokie at heart!!!
A hospital not fit for purpose with staff leaving and not being replaced with car park staff that given car park tickets to cancer patients!!! With disabled car parking bays way way too far away and then the cost for "golf" buggies which are not designed for patient transport and bad weather use. Not enough beds and needing £36 million bail out.
All the managers who signed off on the new super PFI hospital should be forced to go as this hospital is not fit for purpose and has not enough theatres or beds.
Yes i do agree govt policy must change on NHS and PFI and very soon to downgrade so many staff and not keep the experienced staff was and is so short sighted and very very poor management. New managers are coming in BUT they will keep doing the same thing thus no change.
This is madness and is the definition Albert Einstein used.
We as local users need to ask hard questions as we pay for the hospital by our taxes.”

“I hope it's not because there's a report due out on the performance of UHNS,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,”