Hemel MP, Mike Penning, has called for the resignations of all board members of the West Herts Hospitals Trust following today's publication of the Healthcare Commission's Annual Health Check.
Each year, the Commission conducts a national ‘Health Check’ where it considers a range of targets for ‘Quality of services’ and ‘Use of resources’. It awards each NHS Trust a grade of either ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Fair’ or ‘Weak’. Unbelievably, for the second year running, West Herts has managed to score a double ‘Weak’.
Mike said:
”These are absolutely shocking findings by the Healthcare Commission. For ‘Quality of Service’ West Herts Hospitals Trust is in the bottom 7% of the country. The people of Hemel Hempstead deserve better and are being badly let down by the Trust management. Last year’s results should have prompted immediate remedial action – but it appears nothing has changed.”
He continued:
“Quite simply I can see no way forward but for the whole management Board of the Trust to consider their positions. They clearly cannot provide the service and quality of care that local people deserve, so they should get out and let someone else do the job.
“For too long incompetent NHS managers have hidden behind the anonymity of a faceless Trust. I think they should be named and shamed, given a final warning and if they don’t do their job they should be sacked. The Chief Executive of WHHT is David Law, the Chairman is Professor Thomas Hanahoe and the Board of Directors are Gary Etheridge, Professor Graham Ramsay, Sarah Childerstone, Stephen Day, Nick Evans, Sarah Wiles and Non-Executive Directors are Robin Douglas, Colin Gordon, Mahdi Hasan and Katherine Charter.
“The Trust Directors receive very high salaries out of public money, yet local people have no confidence in their ability to do the job. If the Board management cannot provide existing services to an acceptable standard, how can we trust them to handle the so-called hospital reconfiguration?
“If this was a corporate body, or your lawyer or accountant they would get the sack. Why should it be any different for the West Herts Hospital Trust.”
Coincidentally, in what could be seen as a cynical move, the Trust has announced today that they will be spending £38million on upgrading the A&E department at Watford.
Commenting on this, Mike said:
“What they don’t tell you is that £19million of that is going to be raised by selling the Hemel hospital site.
“Hemel’s hospital is being sacrificed to raise money which will be spent in Watford.”
This latest shocking news has come in the same week that Health Protection Agency figures show that between Jan and March this year, 230 reports of C.diff were made in West Herts – up from 162 for the same period last year.