- A CLEANING co-mpany at the centre of a row over hygiene is set to take
over the contract to clean Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross. An undercover rep-orter
for the Sunday Mirror spent a week working as a cleaner for Danish NHS
contractors ISS Mediclean at the Royal London Hospital.Rugby Advertiser
14 February 2002
- The Rugby Take Heart Cardiac Support Group is holding a heart health fair
Saturday September 28 from 11am to 2pm. Group spokesperson Annie Bennett said:
"The event will be a chance for people to get their blood pressure,
cholesterol and glucose levels checked, as well as receiving advice on
stopping smoking, eating healthily and other issues which will keep your heart
healthy." The event will be at the Recreation Hall at Rugby's Hospital of St
Cross.
Rugby Advertiser
26 September 2002
- A VIRAL infection has swept across two wards at Rugby's Hospital of St.
Cross.
Rugby Advertiser 28 November 2002
- Clean bill of health for town hospital. BOSSES at Rugby's Hospital of St.
Cross are celebrating after the hospital was found to be one of the cleanest
in the country. Figures released by the NHS show the Barby Road hospital among
the top 60 per cent of hospitals throughout the UK in terms of cleanliness.
David Roberts, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust, paid tribute to the hard work of the staff at the
hospital.
Rugby Advertiser 06 March 2003
- RUGBY people wanting information about Britain's third most common cause
of death - the stroke - can get special medical advice this week. Specialist
staff will be on hand to offer advice and free blood pressure monitoring on
Monday (September 29) at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross as part of Stroke
Awareness Week.Rugby Advertiser
26 September 2003
- NEW equipment at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross is improving eye care for
diabetic patients. The retinal photography equipment, which was bought with
money donated by the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS) in Rugby, enables a
faster diagnosis to be made when diabetics, who have a higher risk of eye
disease than normal, have problems with their eyesight.
12 January 2004
- PIONEERING work being undertaken at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross is to be
showcased at a major European forum. Consultant physician Nick Balcomb and
Linda Holland, clinical lead and project co-ordinator for the SMART Care
Project, are to present at the European Forum on Quality Improvement in
Healthcare in Copenhagen later this year. As part of the SMART Care Project
run by the National Primary Care Development Team, University Hospitals
Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust is the only site looking at stroke disease
and changes that can be made to provide faster access to treatments.26
February 2004
- A MAN was stabbed in the waiting room of the Accident and Emergency unit
at the Hospital of St. Cross this week.
Rugby Advertiser 26 February 2004
- A RUGBY widow says her husband might still be alive if his cancer had been
correctly diagnosed when he first went for help. Wendy Tompkins said although
Guy's disease was detected last March, he'd gone to Rugby's Hospital of St.
Cross a year earlier with an unusual lump on his face.
Rugby Advertiser 18 March 2004
- PATIENTS in Rugby who need emergency hospital treatment are now being seen
in record time, according to latest figures. Department of Health officials
confirmed that from April to June this year 98 per cent of patients at the
Hospital of St. Cross A&E department were seen within four hours.
Rugby Advertiser 18
August 2005
- STAFF at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross are considering industrial action
in protest against plans to transfer the notes of patients away from the town.
As reported in the Advertiser last week, Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
is considering proposals to transfer medical records of hundreds of patients
to Derbyshire.
Rugby Advertiser 2 March 2006
- WARDS have been closed and tests cancelled after staff and patients at
Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross were struck down by a mystery illness. A number
of staff and patients have been affected by the bug, which has caused
diarrhoea and vomiting. Visitors have been told to wash their hands thoroughly
and patient movement has been restricted in a bid to stop the illness
spreading.
Rugby Advertiser 2 March 2006
- STAFF at the Hospital of St. Cross will have to pay for parking, it has
been officially announced. Rumours have been circulating that the fees will be
introduced after the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust,
who run St. Cross, said patients will have to pay for parking at the Barby
Road hospital. And now bosses officially declared that parking for staff will
be introduced, after lengthy consultations to find other ways to boost funds.
In a letter to staff at Walsgrave Hospital, Chief Executive David Roberts said
the charges will be brought in on September 1 for Walsgrave, adding that 'when
staff from the Coventry and Warwickshire move to the University Hospital site,
charges will also be introduced at Rugby's St. Cross to ensure equality for
all our staff'.
Rugby Advertiser 11
May 2006 [The charge will also apply to volunteers. It is
predictable that many volunteers will give up, so that services to patients
get worse and the hospital may have to pay staff to replace them, swallowing
all the income from volunteers' care parking charges and more.]
- THIS week Advertiser editor Peter Aengenheister gives his views on the
parking controversy... HANDS OFF OUR PARKING. It would appear that despite
'consultation' - which nowadays means 'telling' - that we will be brow-beaten
into accepting what we least want. What am I talking about? PARKING CHARGES of
course! The decisions to introduce parking charges at the Hospital of St.
Cross and on-street in Rugby town centre have been made - the latter, I'm
assuming, was made last night (Wednesday). The first decision was made by the
hospitals trust and the second by the Rugby Area Committee of the county
council. Unless the council has seen the light, both decisions are very, very
wrong. The views, feelings and needs of the people are being completely
ignored, and that is totally unacceptable. People have said to me that the
decisions have been made and therefore it is pointless now to object. I
DISAGREE. If a decision is made and it is shown to be a wrong one, then we
must work to get it reversed. Just because they charge at other hospitals does
not justify charging here. The people of Rugby raised millions of pounds for
that hospital - they already own the tarmac they are parking on. No-one has
the right to now charge them to park on it! And Rugby Borough Council I just
cannot believe. I cannot believe that having been told by every trader in town
- and even after it has been accepted that something special has to be done to
discourage shoppers from going to other shopping centre towns - that they
could even consider charging for street parking and increasing car park
charges. After the council's good work in the town centre, the efforts of the
Town Centre Company and now the BID company... it is madness, a crazy,
unbelievable attempt at economic suicide. I'd like to know who thought of
it..? HANDS OFF OUR PARKING!!! Rugby Advertiser 11 May 2006
- PLANS to transfer the medical records of Rugby patients to a warehouse in
Derbyshire will go ahead after unions agreed a compromise deal safeguarding
more than 50 jobs. Coventry and Warwickshire University Hospitals NHS Trust,
which runs the Hospital of St. Cross, has signed a deal with logistics company
TNT to transfer the records of hundreds of patients to Swadlincote. The Trust
argues that creating a 'one-stop' store will help them keep track of Accident
and Emergency patients and will create a quicker and more efficient service.
Unions representing medical records staff had considered strike action if they
were forced to move to the new factory, which TNT say is the closest suitable
venue, but now a deal has been brokered. Phil Siddle, Regional Officer with
UNISON, said: "The staff will be seconded to TNT and when the records move off
the site staff will be moved to other jobs in the Trust.
Rugby Advertiser 18 May 2006
- 'Super bug killed my mum' - claim. A DISTRAUGHT woman claims
that a deadly superbug could be lurking at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross after
her mother died from contracting it. The woman, who did not wish to be
identified, told the Rugby Advertiser her mother died from clostridium
difficile (c. diff) after being treated at the hospital. The woman, herself a
nurse now living in Weymouth, claimed the hospital was not clean enough to
prevent the bug from spreading. Cases of c. diff have steadily increased in
recent years but most people who catch the infection make a full recovery.
However, the woman's 88-year-old mother from Lutterworth, who she did not want
to name, died on January 25. She was taken to St. Cross days before Christmas
with infected leg ulcers and looked to be recovering well until contracting
the bug. The woman said she visited her on December 27 to discover she had
been moved into a side ward as a precaution against c. diff.
Rugby Advertiser
1 February 2007
- St. Cross says sorry to patient. AN ANGRY patient has condemned
'shambolic' hospital bosses after their error-strewn efforts to organise
much-needed treatment. As reported in the Advertiser last month, Bob Mawby, of
Quarry Close, Newbold, discovered he had been ringing an empty number to
organise an appointment for arthritis surgery at the Hospital of St. Cross.
After a spokesperson admitted failing to tell patients the number was
incorrect, Mr. Mawby was finally sent a letter by the University Hospitals NHS
Trust - which runs St. Cross - informing him he had seven days to respond or
lose his appointment. However, the letter was sent to an old address and he
didn't receive it until seven days from the postmark - which started yet more
problems.
Rugby Advertiser
8 February 2007
- Scan-dal over hospital's life-saving machine. A NEW
£1million life-saving scanner that was installed at Rugby's Hospital of St.
Cross last summer will now only be used one day a week. Doctors have voiced
their concerns that the reduction is due to private firms carrying out the
scanning in mobile vans in car parks instead. Rugby's first ever MRI scanner,
which costs taxpayers £500,000 a year to maintain, was unveiled by celebrity
Martin Kemp last July and was hailed as a 'huge difference to Rugby people' by
the hospital's managing director Dr. Mark Newbold. But this week, Dr. Newbold
said it will only be used one day a week after April - although he believes it
will not affect waiting times.
Rugby Advertiser
1 March 2007
-
Hospital staff
told: help slash the wage bill. Hospital bosses at the NHS trust
responsible for University
Hospital in
Coventry and St Cross
in Rugby have launched a last ditch attempt to save £30m. The trust has given
almost all of its 6,000
staff
four options. These are voluntary redundancy; early retirement; a cut in
hours; or up to weeks extra unpaid holiday. The choice has been included in
the wage slip of every worker with a September 14th deadline. The letter, from
the trust's director of human resources, Kate Bradley, reads: "You are all
aware of the trust's financial position, in that we have to make £30 million
savings by March 2008. With every-one's help and support we have already
identified £15 million of cost savings which are on target to be delivered.
Another £5 million in additional income has been secured, which leaves us with
£10 million to deliver. We are still exploring every possible avenue to make
savings. But it is clear that, with the exception of cutting services, the
only major area to make significant savings within the timescale is staffing
costs, as this is our biggest area of expenditure." Despite the offer,
management is likely to target specific areas, and some requests may be deemed
inappropriate. The trust has already proposed
increasing
parking charges and cutting 200 white-collar jobs. Union leaders fear
another 175 post may be lost to cut the trust's deficit.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Coventry
Evening Telegraph 30 August 2007
-
So much for our ‘free’ National Health Service! WHILST I say more power
to the elbow for the groups trying to save our hospital I am afraid things are
going from bad to worse. First we lost our maternity services (which is not a
great loss to me these days). This means that almost all our children are
Coventarians. Then more importantly we lost our children’s wards. We have just
lost our path labs. I must not be poorly after 7pm or off to Walsgrave I go.
Even if I arrive in the middle of the night I still have to pay for parking.
This parking charge is a disgrace. Who came up with a private financial deal
that meant you had to fleece your customers and staff to pay to see your doctor
or consultant? So much for our free National Health Service. As for saving money
what happens now when I go for a blood test? Until recently I walked in picked
up a supermarket ticket, waited until my number came up and went in. That was
too simple. We now have to go a desk manned mostly by two ladies with two brand
new computers who take your details who then give you the supermarket ticket
like I had before? And I sit and wait. Some saving. Keith Judge, Chapel Street,
Long Lawford.
I would be interested to know why, if St. Cross Hospital isn't under threat of
closure, I have twice within the past six months, been referred to alternative
and inconvenient units. My GP wanted an ultra-sound and on the basis of 'use it
or lose it' I specifically asked to go to St. Cross. The scan took weeks rather
than days to arrange and it was at Walsgrave - I queried the location and was
given no satisfactory answer, and although the doctor who did the test appeared
proficient enough the 'come day, go day' attitude in reception was lamentable.
When I was due for a mammogram I again expected an appointment at the
comfortable and pleasant unit in Barby Road, I was offered Nuneaton, Coventry
and, perhaps the most surprising venue of all, a mobile unit in the Tesco car
park at Old Milverton. I found none of these to be particularly convenient, and
settled for the least inconvenient, many women would simply skip the whole
procedure, not withstanding the fact that mammography is lauded as a life-saver.
Again I asked why not St. Cross, 'We don't use that facility anymore.' and again
I found that an unsatisfactory answer. I am not of the school that believes that
all hospitals should be kept open irrespective of their use to the community,
and I have had my personal criticisms of St. Cross, but I firmly believe that
services there are being cut back in order that it can be closed in the future
and the reason given will be 'insufficient use'. I'd love to be wrong, but I
reckon that's the hidden agenda. Jackie Hinks, Main Street, Frankton. - Letters
Rugby
Advertiser 13 September 2007
-
'My daughter need not have died after hospital neglect'. THE family of
a Rugby woman who died in hospital are to take legal action against medical
staff who they claim could have prevented her death. Sylvia Philcox, of
Matlock Close, Brownsover, said staff at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross and
Coventry's University Hospital had 'shambolically' allowed her diabetic
daughter Karen Phillips to die from a cardiac arrest in February. At an
inquest into her death this week, a coroner ruled that staff failed to assess
crucial data from blood tests showing Mrs. Phillips had high potassium levels
which should have 'rung alarm bells' and led to her cardiac arrest.
Rugby Advertiser 15
November 2007
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