THE MID YORKSHIRE HOSPITALS NHS TRUST

5 May 2006 01:15 PM

The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has today (5 May 2006) been commended for the progress it has made and has been removed from special measures by the Secretary of State for Health.

The Trust was placed under special measures in December 2004 following an investigation by the Healthcare Commission into systems across the organisation and gastroenterology services between 1999 and 2004.

John Parkes, The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s chief executive said: “We have come a long way over the past year and a half and have made tremendous progress. We gave a commitment to patients and local people that we would make significant improvements across the Trust and ensure that our gastroenterology services are of the highest standard. The announcement today shows that we are meeting that promise. I would like to thank staff across all our hospitals for their hard work and commitment to drive forward changes and continue to improve services for our patients.

“This is a significant step forward for the Trust. We have achieved a great deal and it’s important for our staff and local people that the progress we have made has been recognised.”

In February 2005, the Trust published an action plan to meet every single recommendation made by the Healthcare Commission for gastroenterology services and in each of the five special measures areas. One year after the introduction of special measures, the Healthcare Commission reviewed the Trust’s progress and found that there had been tremendous improvements and developments.

Mr Parkes commented: “We are a very different Trust now to the one that the Healthcare Commission investigated two years ago. At that time, we were facing a number of challenges. We were not achieving all national targets, we lacked good systems across the Trust, we didn’t have a robust financial recovery plan in place and the experience of gastroenterology patients varied depending upon which of our hospitals they were treated in.

“Since then, we have made major changes across the Trust to ensure that patients can be confident that the care and treatment they receive is of the highest quality. Members of the Trust Board and senior doctors now regularly receive detailed information that allows us to review the quality of care provided and ensure it compares well against other hospitals.

“Our doctors and matrons have been given more responsibility and authority to run the services they provide, to ensure that they are the same high standard at each of our hospitals. We’ve also set up a new committee, including twelve senior doctors, to be responsible for making the most important decisions at the Trust.

“For all the changes that we have made, the most important outcome is that patients can see a positive difference in the services we provide. Recent research that we have carried out with 650 patients shows that they do. Almost three quarters of the patients we questioned who have used our services in the past said they’d seen improvements in the last two years. This is a great tribute to the dedication and hard work of our staff to provide an excellent service for our patients.”

The Healthcare Commission investigation began because of concerns raised about gastroenterology services at Pinderfields Hospital.

Dr Lionel Gracey-Whitman is the clinical lead for gastroenterology and is one of the two new gastroenterologists that were appointed in 2004. He commented: “We have dramatically reduced the waiting time for treatment, increased the number of nurses caring for patients who need an endoscopy and invested in new high-tech equipment. We’ve put measures in place to make sure that patients’ receive the same high standard of care, regardless of the hospital they are treated in.

“One of the biggest improvements for patients at Pinderfields is the fantastic new, dedicated endoscopy suite that we are opening in about two weeks time. Quite simply, it will be one of the best in Yorkshire. It’s vastly bigger than the old unit and will give us the space to treat twice the number of patients. We have improved privacy for patients by building a dedicated entrance, waiting and recovery rooms for day patients and separate rooms for staff to talk privately with patients.”

Since the investigation the Trust has made significant improvement and investment in gastroenterology services including:

• Two new gastroenterologists were appointed in 2004 to improve services at Pinderfields and Pontefract and one has been made the clinical leader for gastroenterology.
• A further three gastroenterologists are being appointed. Two years ago, there were three gastroenterologists at the Trust, with these new appointments there will be seven.
• £1.6 million is being invested into a new endoscopy suite at Pinderfields to ensure that patients are treated in the best possible environment. The new suite, which will be one of the best in Yorkshire, will be officially opened in June by local-born celebrity Jane McDonald.
• The waiting time for gastroenterology treatment has been dramatically reduced. New patients being referred for an endoscopy now wait around 5 months and the Trust is planning to reduce this further (the current national target is 6 months). In 2003, patients would have waited for around 12 months.
• Surgeons and gastroenterologists are working well together to take the service forward and it is widely recognised as having developed over the past 12 months.

• Measures have been put in place to make sure that patients across the Trust receive the same waiting times and high standard of care regardless of which of the Trust’s hospitals they are treated in.
• Investment has been made in new high-tech equipment to support the endoscopy service.
• Two new endoscopy nurses have been appointed and a further seven nurses are being recruited to work in the endoscopy unit at Pinderfields.
• A rota has been in place since July 2004 to ensure that experienced and skilled health professionals are available to treat patients needing an emergency endoscopy.
• Audits in gastroenterology have been completed, including an audit of over 300 gastroenterology patients about the care they receive. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Not only has the Trust made significant progress against the Healthcare Commission’s recommendations, but their performance against the range of national standards has improved considerably.

John Parkes commented: “There is a real sense of progress amongst our staff and patients. Waiting times have been cut dramatically and patients who need surgery, an outpatient assessment or urgent treatment from one of our A&E departments are now being treated quicker than ever before.

“Our focus in the last two years has been to move from an underachieving Trust to one that compares well nationally. We’re well on our way to achieving that and our focus now is to go one step further and ensure that Mid Yorkshire is one of the best Trusts in the country.”

Mike Farrar, chief executive of West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority said: “We welcome the decision, by the Secretary of State for Health, to take The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust out of special measures.

“West Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority has worked closely with the Trust during special measures and has been impressed by its commitment to making significant improvements following the recommendations by the Healthcare Commission in December 2004. The Trust has worked extremely hard and this recommendation by the Healthcare Commission and decision by the Secretary of State for Health is well deserved.

“The Trust has taken a huge step forward and we will continue to work closely with it to ensure it continues to build on these solid foundations and further improve and develop services for local people.”

Issued by: Julie Haddon 01924 212362 or 07788 415689

Editor’s notes:
Overview of actions taken by the Trust to meet the special measures recommendations:

Shaping and developing health services:

• Good progress is being made on planning health services across the Mid Yorkshire area to achieve sustainable, safe and high quality services into the future. The North Kirklees and Wakefield Partnership Board has been established and members are working well together.
• The plans for the new hospitals at Pinderfields and Pontefract were independently reviewed and given the go-ahead. Services for the Pontefract hospital have been extended and local people and staff were closely involved in helping the Trust to finalise the plans.
• Work has started on developing a strategy that will set out the services that will be provided from each of the Trust’s three main hospitals. Public meetings have been arranged between 10 and 24 May to look at why services need to change and to find out what is important to local people.

  Finance:

• Good financial systems have been put in place and the Trust has reduced it’s yearly overspend by half, achieving the agreed target of a maximum £14.7 million deficit for the 2005/06 financial year.

  Organisational development:

• The board of the Trust has been strengthened by the appointment of a new chairman and new executive and non-executive directors, including a new medical director to provide strong leadership for clinical staff. There is widespread praise for the team from both staff and external bodies.
• Nearly every single member of staff has had an appraisal in the last 12 months and the Trust has invested in training and development programmes for senior clinical staff and managers.

  Clinical governance:

• New systems have been put in place to regularly review the quality of clinical care that patients receive to ensure that it is of the highest standard and compares well against other hospitals.

  Clinical leadership and management:

• A new management and clinical structure has been put in place. Senior front-line staff have been placed at the heart of decision making within the Trust with the appointment of twelve clinical directors who sit on the Trust’s clinical management committee. These changes will ensure that services are managed as one across the three main hospitals and give front line staff more responsibility and authority to ensure that services and patient care are of the highest quality.
• A hospital matron has been appointed for each of the three main sites - responsible for improving patients’ experience, cleanliness of public areas and being a contact point for patients.