Tameside General Hospital taken out of special measures after significant improvement

17 Sep 2015 12:18 AM

Patients in Tameside and Glossop are benefitting from significant improvements at their local hospital following action taken by Monitor.

Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which provides a range of elective, emergency and specialist services for around 250,000 adults and children, has improved the way it is run and the healthcare it provides.

Although Monitor has formally removed the trust from special measures, it will continue to take the necessary steps to build on recent improvements.

The foundation trust has now agreed with Monitor to:

• work with partners in the health economy to take forward the proposals outlined by the contingency planning team (CPT) to ensure the trust remains clinically sustainable and becomes financially sustainable
• progress and develop the CPT’s proposed implementation plan in partnership with commissioners and local stakeholders
• work together with commissioners to explore further how to address the residual long-term challenges identified in the report to Monitor by the CPT.

David Dean, Senior Director of Transformation and Turnaround at Monitor, said:

Staff at Tameside have worked incredibly hard to turn this organisation around and improve things for patients.

It is good news we have been able to take the trust out of special measures and our decision reflects the progress that’s been made. However, there is still a lot of work to do and we will continue to support the trust to ensure that its progress maintains.

Monitor’s decision follows a recommendation by the Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Sir Mike Richards. Care Quality Commission inspectors rated the hospital as ‘Requires Improvement’ but found that significant improvements had been made.

The CPT has recommended a model for integrating health care with social care that will improve quality for patients and the financial position at the trust. The team has produced an implementation plan for taking forward this work. Decisions on future action will be taken by local partners.

Read the full CPT report and summary.