Hillingdon Hospital August News

Written by Joan Davis

Saturday, 29 August 2009 09:50

Firstly money

The Trust ended July with a surplus of £269k and it now forecasts ending the financial year next March with a surplus of £1.65 m. So, it expects to meet its statutory requirement to break even, and also to meet the requirements of NHS London,, However, the Trust expected and wanted to have a bigger surplus, to allow greater flexibility to combat any problems that may arise.

Why are its profits down? Inpatient activity was low in July, operating costs continued to grow at a faster rate than income and planned efficiecy savings were not achieved. To combat these issues and to meet the cost of paying for the new Mount Vernon Treatment Centre, the Board resolved to reduce use of agency staff and to avoid working outside normal hours. To achieve this will need the co-operation of staff at all levels of the workforce.

Infections? Mortality rates?

Good news on both these important issues – the Trust has had only two MRSA bacteraemia cases since 1^st April, so is well within its annual target of maximum 12 cases, and its standard mortality rate at 69.5 is way below 100, the average for hospitals in England.

Children’s services

An action plan is in place to address training problems highlighted by the recent Care Quality Commission Review. Additional training is being introduced for staff treating children outside the main paediatric area and also more training in paediatric pain management . Changes are being made to ensure that consultants have appropriate volumes of paediatric activity to maintain skills and expertise.

European Working time Directive

The requirement for junior doctors to work no more than 48 hours per week has now been met. This was achieved only by successfully recruiting an addional orthopaedic Senior House Officer and by a dispensation that two General Surgery rotas be allowed to work up to 52 hours per week..

Joan Davis

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Last Updated on Saturday, 29 August 2009 11:23

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