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Regulator brings in new bosses at hospital trust
Monitor, the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts, has stepped into the crisis surrounding Morecambe Bay’s hospitals.
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust has been hit by a series of scandals including deaths of mothers and babies at Furness General Hospital in Barrow, a shambles in its outpatients appointment system and criticism of low staffing levels at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary’s accident and emergency department.
Monitor announced today that Sir David Henshaw from Liverpool’s Alder Hey Hospital would be appointed as interim chair of the trust.
An interim chief operating officer will also be brought in to run the day-to-day activities of the trust across all its sites.
Stephen Hay, Monitor’s chief operating officer, said: “Our role is to make sure that the board is running its hospitals well on behalf of patients.
“The action we are taking now is designed to strengthen the trust’s board so that it can move quickly and effectively to deal with the concerns identified.
“Sir David Henshaw is an experienced chair and it will be his job to take whatever action is necessary to fix the problems so that patient care is delivered to the standards they should be able to expect - now and in the future.”
Tony Halsall, chief executive of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I would once again, like to apologise to anyone who has suffered as a result of the trust’s recent failings and to thank every member of staff for their continued hard work and commitment at a time that is difficult for everyone.”
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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Comments
There are 7 comments to this article
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grumpyolegit
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 01:23 PMTheir are simple reasons why these bureaucratic quangos called nhs trusts do not work and the biggest cheif executives who are over paid and simply do not have a clue. Their has been problems within this trust for years and if a patient had the temerity to complain they did not receive follow up appointments or if they did they where kept waiting till the end of clinic and often treated worse than a third world refugee and this has been endemic in this trust for years. The problem with them bringing in a so called trouble shooter to sort out this mess is it will acheive very little except another fat cat milking the nhs for all he can get. There has to come a time when people realize that all the bureaurocracy in the nhs is the real problem send the civil servant packing and give the nhs back to the local areas to be run by the local people and doctors centralization never works our hospitals where cleaner and better managed when they where run locally employing local people. The jobs for the boys culture with lavish wages and expence accounts needs to stop because it makes us all poorer
Redruss
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:42 PM"...high level resignations might be “interesting”, they “don’t achieve anything”, says Tony Halsall. Whilst he has been "working", he hasn't achieved much for us to be interested in. Now that CQC will appoint a "Turnaround Director" & "Chief Operating Officer", how on earth will he fill his time? I have heard that he is paid £375k pa just for window-dressing, cover-ups and to issue reassurances. He still talks about "restoring public confidence". Restore the service Tony and we'll look after where we place our confidence. The next train to Stafford is just leaving. You can catch it if you run, Tony.
Redruss
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 11:43 PMThe Board have gone crazy, haven't they? A few months ago they wanted to take over North Cumbria! Now it turns out they haven't even been managing what they already run. Instead they have turned out to be window-dressers, constantly reassuring the public when NHS watchdogs say they are "unable to identify existing risks" right under their noses!
pipin
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 07:37 PMmy husband required treatment in the A&E at lancaster & later in the ICU, the doctors & nurses were all fantastic. they are working under incredible pressures, and are constantly the victims of political "spin" & bad management. the board should all step down, they have brought the trust to it's knees, if they managed a business so badly they would be fired. they have left the local population vunerable and at risk of loosing essential services through their bad management. i agree that they do not need yet more managers, they just need a few good ones. there are FAR too many managers doing a bad job....time for change
User1968
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 04:23 PMOoopsie bad spelling via iPhone ......doctors obviously!
User1968
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 04:22 PMUnfortunately I had to attend A and E yesterday, I was perturbed by the reports I had read but I was treated with care,respect and professionalism. I am so grateful that I live in a country that has free healthcare, the dedicated nurses and dictors are obviously keeping the service running in Lancaster, and perhaps we should remember that, stop the overall criticism and let them sort it out at the shop floor level instead of paying yet another manager to come in ,wring hands, lap look, and then shuffle off with a golden goodbye!
LadyLavender
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 12:28 AMThankfully, i've not had to use any of our local hospital facilities & therefore i can't comment on the efficiency of our local health services, but it always slightly concerns me when damming reports start showing up in the media. It could be an excuse for the next step - a kind of Privatisation via the backdoor without any form of consultation.
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