Serious concerns reported in the Keogh review
Eleven of the UK’s worst performing NHS trusts have been placed on special measures by the Government after an analysis highlighted serious concerns about their mortality figures.
The Keogh investigation follows the public inquiry into widespread negligence at Stafford Hospital and in response to concerns that patients are being let down by the current system.
The report was keen to stress that while the issue identified at the various trusts listed below were of serious concern, they are not of the scope and scale of the failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
The Keogh review identified several areas where the trusts had been found wanting including; sub-standard care, staffing issues and poor leadership which were reported to Parliament in July 2013.
Special measures now in force, deploying external experts
The special measures now in force will seek to address the immediate sources of potential negligence - such as closing poorly maintained operating theatres - by deploying external experts to support the management teams at the trusts in implementing changes.
Linda Millband's, a senior medical negligence solicitor at Thompsons said: “The Keogh report is no doubt shocking for those who have been patients at the hospitals named and worrying for those concerned their loved ones may have received substandard treatment at any of them.
“The key is to get to the bottom of what went wrong in each hospital and put it right as soon as possible. No one gains, other than NHS doomsayers, from exaggerating the scale of the problem or making generalisations that condemn all of the staff at any hospital, the vast majority of whom will have been working hard to deliver the best healthcare possible in the circumstances.”
NHS Trusts undergoing special measures
The trusts currently undergoing special measures are:
North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
Medway NHS Foundation Trust
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