Hilligdon Hospital Board met on 27th January 2010

Written by Joan Davis

Thursday, 04 February 2010 15:05

Here are a few of the interesting facts that arose:

Finance

December financial performance improved but the Trust remains in deficit by £494k which is £2,128k behind plan. The year end forecast surplus has been dropped to £0.1m

Stroke Unit accreditation

The Hillingdon Hospital Stroke Unit has achieved accrediatation by the North West London Cardiac and Stroke Network and the North West London Commissioning Partnership, with glowing comments both about the staff and the service The new stroke beds will be opening in a phased approach, to a maximum of 24 beds.

Emergency care

December snow brought twice the usual volume of trauma patients, putting pressure on surgical beds. The range of temperatures saw an increase in cardiac, stroke and respiratory patients. The Trust opened an extra 50 beds to accommodate the increase in activity, which added to the pressures on hospital staff.

The Trust performed better in December than November but, in common with other hospitals and every Strategic Health Authority, failed to meet the 4 hour A&E target for the month overall. Of the 23 London trusts with an A&E department three are not meeting the target year to date and eleven did not perfom above 98% during December. However Hillingon Hospital has achieved 98.2% for the whole year to date, a better position than it had at the same time last year.

Fractured neck of femur has better outcome if operated on within 48 hours of admission. There has been significant improvement in care of these patients with over 90% of patients now being operated on within 48 hours.

The second week in January saw 43 patients suffering delayed transfers of care whilst waiting for either residential placement or Social Services home care packages. The Trust’s working relationship with the Borough Council required senior input, but this led to systems for more careful monitoring and for the Trust to work more effectively with the Borough.

Cancelled operations

In December, 18 operations were cancelled on the day of operation for non-clinical reasons – four because other operations took longer than expected, six due to no beds because of winter pressures, and seven for assorted reasons including sickness, weather related accidents and lack of specialist equipment. Elective operations on the Hillingdon site remain sensitive to bed pressures, but this risk does not arise for operations at Mount Vernon Treatment Centre.

Two week wait for breast cancer patients

The Trust is performing well despite not achieving this target - 84% of patients were being seen within 14 days, and those who exceeded that timescale had either changed their appointments or did not wish to attend within that period. In comparison, the national average achieves only 57.3% of patients being seen within target

Cancer Survivorship Programme:

A national project is looking at the long term consequences of cancer and its treatment. The Hillingdon Hospital Lung Cancer Team has been successful in its bid to become a National Test Site.

Joan Davis

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Last Updated on Thursday, 04 February 2010 15:08

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