- DELAYS, bad practice and poor management is putting lives at risk at
Walsgrave and Rugby hospitals, while staff are bullied and intimidated, a
damning report has found. Aggressive management skills and a higher than
average death rate were highlighted as areas of concern by the Commission for
Health Improvement (CHI). The trust is also criticised for a culture in which
doctors fear being victimised for voicing concerns, in what is the worst
report published to date. The report reveals that at Walsgrave, now the
University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, five beds were put in
bays designed for four, putting patients at serious risk. Peter Homa, CHI
Chief Executive, said: "This trust has the most serious problems of any we
have reviewed so far."
Rugby Advertiser 20 September 2001
- OUTRAGE has been sparked by the damning report on Walsgrave hospitals
trust, and there are calls for Chief Executive David Loughton to resign. Rugby
MP Andy King said the time has come for a new team to take over the running of
the trust.
Rugby Advertiser 20 September 2001
- Editor's comment. How can there ever again be any confidence in the
Walsgrave and Rugby hospitals trust while David Loughton is in charge of it.
Rugby Advertiser 20 September 2001
- RUGBY and Coventry hospitals received zero stars in a new government
rating system just a week after a comprehensive panning from the Commission
for Health Improvement. The Department of Health has put the University
Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust with 11 other trusts that form
the dregs. Managers have just three months to turn things around before being
replaced.
Rugby Advertiser 27 September 2001
- ASSESSORS from the Rapid Reaction force have savaged David Loughton's
Management of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.
Rugby Advertiser 04 October 2001
- SENIOR Liberal Democrats in Rugby have joined the campaign to get rid of
David Loughton. Mr. Loughton, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Coventry
and Warwickshire NHS Trust, has come under fire as concern surrounding about
problems in the Trust s hospitals mounts. Cllr. Jerry Roodhouse (Lib Dem,
Eastlands) said: The local community has completely lost confidence in the
ability of the Trust s current leadership to resolve the problems outlined in
the Commission for Health Improvement. David Loughton should go and go now.
Rugby Advertiser 04 October 2001
- SURGEONS at Walsgrave Hospital say the trust can't move forward while
David Loughton is in charge of it.
Rugby Advertiser 04 October 2001
- Editor's Comment. Is Bob Ainsworth, MP for Coventry North a close personal
friend of David Loughton s I wonder? He is the only local MP, out of six that
has resisted a call for the resignation of David Loughton over his management
of the Walsgrave trust.
Rugby Advertiser 04 October 2001
- CAMPAIGNERS at troubled Walsgrave Hospitals hope to get 1,000 workers to
sign a petition to see the chief executive go. Hospital staff calling for the
resignation of David Loughton say they can t move forward while he is in
charge of the trust. The University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS
Trust received a damning report from the Commission for Health Improvement,
followed by zero stars in a Department of Health report.
Rugby Advertiser 11 October 2001
- UNDER-FIRE Walsgrave bosses have hurriedly put together an action plan in
the aftermath of two damning reports into hospital practices. The Commission
for Health Improvement - an independent body set up by the Government to
investigate the NHS - clobbered the Walsgrave trust, calling it the worst
example of an NHS facility they had come across. Health Minister Alan Millburn
wasted no time in naming it in his dirty dozen of failing NHS Trusts and gave
them a three-month deadline to put things right.
Rugby Advertiser 11 October 2001
- THE FALLOUT from Loughton's private address to council caused anger and
bickering between political parties. After the Walsgrave boss left his
behind-closed-doors meeting with Rugby Borough Council they met again, this
time in public. The first subject for discussion was public participation
within the NHS and Cllr. Ron Ravenhall (Lib. Dem, Knightlow) seized the
opportunity to criticise what had just happened.
Rugby Advertiser 08 November 2001
- Now hang on just a minute. I know that my prime objective has been to see
the back of David Loughton, and now it is reported, in none other than The
Times newspaper, that he is likely to resign in March. But believe it or not I
feel a little uncomfortable with the latest suggestion. My fear is that
instead of being sacked, which is what should happen with someone like David
Loughton, he will more likely leave with a deal. Much as I and the rest of the
population of Rugby want to see him out of the door, I don t want to see him
leave 'with the loot .
Rugby Advertiser 22 November 2001
- CONTROVERSIAL hospital boss David Loughton is expected to offer his
resignation. The Chief Executive of University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust is believed to have agreed to step down in March.
Rugby Advertiser 22 November 2001
- PRESSURE continues to mount for troubled hospital chief David Loughton
after he received a vote of no confidence by senior doctors. The Chief
Executive of the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust came
under fire from the independently conducted vote by the Electoral Reform
Society.
Rugby Advertiser 29 November 2001
- CHAIRMAN of the troubled Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Gary Reay,
has resigned in an effort to stop infighting and politicising. He made the
shock announcement yesterday (Wednesday) just before calls were made in the
Commons for the resignation of the Trust s Chief Executive David Loughton.
Rugby Advertiser 29 November 2001
- THE battle to oust troubled hospital chief David Loughton is unrelenting .
Last week it was taken a step further when six MPs met in London s Westminster
Hall to discuss the future of the Trust and to call for Mr. Loughton s
resignation.
Rugby Advertiser 06 December 2001
- HOSPITAL boss David Loughton will be backed - not sacked - according to
health chiefs. Reports of a senior doctors meeting leaked to the Advertiser
suggest Mr. Loughton will not lose his job as expected. The news came after
Deputy Regional Director of the West Midlands Regional Health Authority, Dr.
Sue Ibbotson, met the Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust s senior hospital
medical staff.
Rugby Advertiser 17 December 2001
- THE public s chance to grill under-fire hospital boss David Loughton takes
place on January 16 at the council's Community Leadership Meeting. It follows
October's full council meeting with Mr. Loughton which took place in private.
At the original meeting Community Leadership portfolio holder Cllr. Kathleen
Hayter (Lab, Admirals) asked Mr. Loughton to return to field questions from
the public. This week she told the Advertiser: "I m delighted Mr. Loughton is
taking part in this debate and I urge as many people with concerns as possible
to attend."
Rugby Advertiser
03 January 2002
- BELEAGUERED hospital boss David Loughton will face the wrath of the people
of Rugby at a meeting next week. The under-fire Chief Executive of the
Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust is taking questions at a meeting of Rugby
Borough Council s Community Leadership Panel. The meeting, next Wednesday (Jan
16), is being conducted in public and anyone with an interest in local
healthcare is urged and welcome to attend.
Rugby Advertiser
10 January 2002
- HOSPITAL boss David Loughton should be in no doubt about the strength and
depth of feeling towards him in Rugby following his public meeting.
Rugby Advertiser
22 January 2002
- HOSPITAL boss David Loughton has resigned from his position as Chief
Executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. Rumours of his
resignation reached fever pitch this week and were confirmed on Tuesday night
by the Trust's new Chairman Bryan Stoten.
Rugby Advertiser
07 March 2002
- TO say outgoing hospital boss David Loughton's time in charge was eventful
would be an understatement. He first became known to the people of Rugby in
February 1997 with the announcement that the management of St. Cross was
changing hands. The news caused shockwaves around the borough and was followed
swiftly by promises from Mr. Loughton that services at St. Cross would be
unaffected.
Rugby Advertiser
07 March2002
- PROGRESS has been made, but there are still deep-rooted problems at the
heart of the Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, according to CHI.
Rugby Advertiser
22 March 2002
- A REPLACEMENT for outgoing hospital boss David Loughton could be in place
within two months.
Rugby Advertiser
18 April 2002
- OUTGOING hospital boss David Loughton's salary increase has come under
scrutiny as the dust settles from last week's budget speech.
Rugby Advertiser
25 April 2002
- MEMBERS of the public with concerns about Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross
can now take their worries straight to the top. Chairman of the University
Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust Bryan Stoten is holding a series
of open door surgeries.
Rugby Advertiser
23 May 2002
- I think it is a giant step forward for health in this part of the county
for Chief Executive of the Walsgrave trust, Bryan Stoten, to hold surgeries to
receive queries and complaints. For far too long the political machinations
revolving around what was or wasn't going on have left people totally
confused. People have even been unsure about what actual services have been
available at their own hospital. This has been a ridiculous situation and
completely unfair to Rugby as a community. But I have to ask why these
opportunities can only take place in Coventry? Editor's comment
Rugby Advertiser
23 May 2002
- RUGBY and district hospitals are well on the road to recovery according to
bosses at a beleaguered local NHS trust. The University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust was given one star out of a possible three in a
recently-released Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) report.
Rugby Advertiser
31 July 2002
- THE man blamed by many for bringing Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross to its
knees is officially no longer involved with the NHS. David Loughton, the
former Chief Executive of the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire
NHS Trust, resigned earlier this year but has been working out his notice.
Rugby Advertiser
28 August 2002
- THE FATHER of a former patient at Walsgrave hospital has branded a hike in
car parking charges at the hospital as 'Loughton's legacy'. Boughton Vale man
Peter Realf's son, Stephen, was in Walsgrave's children's ward six years ago
meaning that his family had to travel to see him in their car. Mr. Realf says
the new car parking charges would have been a tremendous expense for the
family at that time. He said: "I think this will be David Loughton's parting
shot to the people of Rugby. It has all the hallmarks of one of his schemes.
It's pretty shabby when they are charging patients going in for treatment."
Rugby Advertiser
12 September 2002
- A TOP NHS nursing leader has praised the way staff are improving services
to patients at the University Hospitals' Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.
Rugby Advertiser 14 November 2002
- JUST two years after a public panning which saw it receive the lowest
possible rating for its services, the local NHS trust has now been given a
clean bill of health. In September 2001 the University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust was ranked among the worst in the country by the
Commission for Health Improvement. But this week the Trust, which includes
Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross, was awarded two stars out of three in national
ratings.
Rugby Advertiser
17 July 2003
- DIRTY facilities, long waiting lists and a lack of confidence in doctors
has left Rugby patients' satisfaction in hospital care the lowest in the West
Midlands. Rugby's MP has pledged to push for even greater reform after the
publication of a damning new report.
The Good Hospital Guide, produced by
independent healthcare authority Dr. Foster, provided a snapshot of the work
and facilities of all the hospitals in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. But
the picture of the hospitals regularly used by Rugby people isn't pretty. The
three hospitals - Rugby's St. Cross, Walsgrave and Coventry and Warwickshire -
are all run under the umbrella of the University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust. They have outpatient waiting times which are the fifth
worst in England, with more than a third of patients having to wait longer
than 13 weeks.
Rugby Advertiser 20 May 2004
- They're very chuffed with the state-of-the-art "super hospital" being
built in Coventry. The £400m, five-storey complex, due to open in early 2006,
will bring together emergency and specialist services on one site. It may be
on the north-east outskirts of the city, but there will be 1,850 spaces in the
(£6-a-day) car park. The new hospital will free up valuable city-centre land
occupied since 1864 by the Coventry and Warwickshire hospital, which will
close. For those patients and visitors without a car, the bus to the new unit
in Walsgrave will take 25 minutes. If you're crossing town, of course, that's
on top of your journey time into the centre.
Wednesday October 6, 2004 The Guardian
- A hospital has launched an investigation and suspended two of its porters
following allegations that a dead baby was left in a basement overnight
instead of being taken to a mortuary. The baby is thought to have died at the
maternity unit at New Cross hospital in Wolverhampton over the weekend. It is
claimed the body was stored in a box rather than sent to a morgue. The
incident comes less than a year after the hospital's standard of care was
criticised by the Healthcare Commission following its own investigation.
David Loughton, the chief
executive of the Royal Wolverhampton hospitals NHS trust, said the trust had
contacted the baby's family to express regret. Debbie Andalo and agencies
Thursday April 28, 2005
- WAITING times in accident and emergency departments are at an all time
low, NHS chiefs have claimed. Figures published this week show just two per
cent of the 38,685 people who passed through the departments at S Cross and
Walsgrave hospitals in April, May and June waited longer than four hours - the
maximum any patient should have to wait.
Rugby
Observer August 2005
- A HOSPITAL in Wolverhampton run by controversial health boss David
Loughton is suffering from crippling debts. Cash-strapped Royal Wolverhampton
Hospitals NHS Trust achieved just one out of three stars in the Healthcare
Commission rating. New Cross Hospital would have achieved top rating in the
latest health watchdog review but for the debts, according to bosses. Mr.
Loughton, who was chief executive of University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust, resigned from Walsgrave Hospital in March 2002 after a
vote of no confidence. His departure followed calls from seven MPs for him to
leave and a vote of no confidence by 99 consultants. The Rugby Advertiser
launched a well-supported campaign to see his resignation. During Mr.
Loughton's ten year 'reign' over Walsgrave and Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross,
the trust was criticised in a Commission for Health Improvement report for
putting patients' lives at risk with unsafe practices. It also said
doctors feared being victimised for
voicing concerns. This report was swiftly followed by a zero-rating in
the Government's star rating system. But Mr. Loughton sprung back to become
chief executive of the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS a year ago.
Rugby Advertiser
22
September 2005
- £1m health bill
dispute.
Payment by results has brought Walsgrave Hospital and Coventry
PCT into conflict. The PCT claims the hospital taken advantage of the new
system to overcharge for treatment, while the hospital believes the PCT is
trying to claw back £1m of its debt by disputing payments it had originally
agreed to. The matter will now have to be decided by
West Midlands South SHA. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Coventry Evening Telegraph 3
February 2006
-
Parking fees
outrage. Coventry's Walsgrave Hospital has increased its parking fees.
Parking charges are also being introduced at Rugby's St Cross hospital for the
first time. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Coventry Evening
Telegraph 13 February 2006
- It amounts to a
pay cut for workers. Amicus and Unison leaders have hit out at the
revelation that Walsgrave Hospital may charge staff up to £300 a year to park. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Coventry Evening
Telegraph 13 February 2006
- We don't want to
work in Derbyshire. Workers at the medical records department at hospitals
in Coventry and Rugby face losing their jobs unless they travel to Derbyshire to
work, after University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust decided to
outsource their work to private firm TNT. Many of the 70 staff are part-time and
the commute would not make economic sense. Hospitals workers have now started a
petition - which already has 400 signatures - which calls on hospital bosses to
reverse the decision. Summary by Keep our NHS Public
of Coventry Evening Telegraph 20 February 2006
- LIVES could be put at risk and patient confidentiality compromised if
plans to switch the medical notes of Rugby patients are introduced, it has
been claimed. Records of patients at the Hospital of St. Cross and the
Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital could be switched to a warehouse in
Derbyshire, under plans drawn up by the Coventry and Warwickshire Trust. The
Trust has argued that creating a 'one-stop' shop for medical records will make
their service more efficient and will help them to locate records of emergency
patients quicker. However, objectors claim the plans will lead to redundancies
among 90 staff working in the medical records departments of both hospitals
and could have fatal consequences. A worker at St. Cross, who asked not to be
named, said: "The Trust say they can get the notes down here for emergency
patients in 90 minutes, but what happens if they can't? It could mean lives
are lost because a consultant doesn't have notes at his disposal. Morale among
the medical records staff now is at an all-time low thanks to this scheme."
Logistics company TNT will be responsible for housing the records in a
warehouse in Swadlincote, Derbyshire.
Rugby Advertiser 23 February 2006
- THE TRUST which runs Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross has been named as the
third best in the UK for beating the MRSA bug. Staff in Rugby are celebrating
after the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust was rated
in the top three with an MRSA rate of 0.12 per cent of teaching specialist
hospitals.
Rugby Advertiser 23 February 2006
- PATIENTS in Rugby have been told to wait for vital treatment in order to
save funds, it has been claimed.
Coventry and Rugby Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) sent a joint letter to the
University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust in January asking them to delay setting dates for
patient operations. The PCTs claim that asking for the delay would help save
funds which could be used for other services. However, the Trust, which
oversees the Hospital of St. Cross in Rugby, rejected the 'unacceptable'
request out of hand. Bryan Stoten, Chairman of the Trust, said: "We discussed
it and said at the end of the day, patients come first. It's not an uncommon
practice, I'm afraid, as a lot of trusts find themselves in financial
difficulties and see a way out of it by not treating patients. We said we will
treat patients when we have to - they come first."
Rugby Advertiser 13 April 2006.
- If this is
Patients' Choice then may heaven help us all! "Crisis: What NHS crisis?"
Daily Mail headline - Monday April 24. The above headline has compelled
me to write to you. I have had several hospital appointments over the
last few months and been told I now have Patients' Choice to choose when
I attend and at which hospital. The reality of all this is that in order
to make an appointment , my doctor handed me a print out of my "instructions".
I was to wait for at least four to six weeks to see if I was contacted.
If not, I was to phone the number indicated. This was just to check that
I was in the system. Fortunately, someone did telephone me before the
time was up but only to tell me "they" would be expecting me to telephone
"them" within the next couple of days and I was given a reference number to
quote. I was strongly urged to telephone within this time period as my
call would be expected. I did this immediately and couldn't believe how
long it took her to make one appointment. I wasn't "given the choice" of
appointment, but given a date and asked if this would be convenient. As
it happened, it wasn't, so after another lengthy wait, another date was
offered which I accepted. I had already been informed that I had the
choice of four hospitals, St Cross, Walsgrave,
Coventry and Warwick and quite
frankly I cannot remember the name of the other one. However I was told
that my appointment would be at the Hospital of St Cross. As this was
convenient, I duly accepted. More recently I have received a
communication asking me to attend Coventry and Warwick for a kidney CT scan,
at 10.15am. I duly telephoned the appointments clerk and said that as I
didn't drive, I would have difficulty in getting there for that particular
time and could they arrange transport? She said that it was up to my GP
to do this. My GP said that unless I was disabled, I would have to make
my own way there. I explained I didn't drive but he said there was a bus
service. I telephoned Stagecoach who said they do not have a bus that
goes directly to the Coventry and Warwick, only Walsgrave. However, if I
made my way to Coventry the bus would stop very near to Pool Meadow and it was
only a ten minute walk to the hospital. I had previously been told by
the clerk at the hospital that if I could get to Pool Meadow, the hospital was
only a five minute walk! So far, it has become a ten minute walk!
So I am now in the position of not choosing my appointment time/date or the
hospital, because obviously St Cross does not have a CT scanning machine.
I have no transport but because I'm not disabled, I must make my own way
there. I'm prepared to go by bus but there isn't a direct service
(Ministers please note, you keep telling us to use public transport and this
is precisely why we don't!) As I have just got divorced, am in the
middle of moving house and although not obviously disabled, I am 63 years of
age, suffering from arthritis, I felt that the whole procedure was just too
much, so I have cancelled the appointment for the time being and been told
that I will be put back on the waiting list. I am at present on pension
credit but once my flat is sold I will have money from my divorce settlement
and will be able to afford to pay for a taxi to take me to the hospital.
If this is Patients' Choice and if is the Health Service at its best, so help
us all! Mrs Wendy Law, Ash Court, Bilton, Rugby.
Letter in Rugby Advertiser 4 May 2006. [West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority]
- Medical
resources wasted by the millions of patients who fail to turn up
for hospital appointments cost the NHS in England £614m last year, according
to figures provided by trusts under the Freedom of Information Act. John
Carvel, social affairs editor
Tuesday May 9, 2006 The Guardian [Note: the situation might be improved
if patients did not get appointments at times and places they cannot reach.
See 4 May 2006 on
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire Trust Performance for a
letter about this problem. Other patients have much worse problems with
no convenient bus service] [West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority]
- 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.]
- Healthcare Commission completes
independent review of the 2006 performance ratings for NHS trusts in England.
The University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust is now considered to have met all of the core
standards and its score for quality of services has been changed from “good”
to “excellent”. The Trust’s score for use of resources remains “fair”.
Bassetlaw Primary Care Trust requested a review of the Commission’s
assessment of core standard C4c: ”All reusable medical devices are properly
decontaminated prior to use and that the risks associated with decontamination
facilities and processes are well managed.” The Commission concluded that,
despite some identified lapses, they were not significant lapses and the
request for review was upheld. This had no effect on the Trust’s final rating,
which remains at “good” but it is now considered to have met all of the core
standards. Care
and Health 10 May 2007
|