UNDER-FIRE NHS TRUST IN A HEALTHY STATE |
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| East Yorks: A hospitals trust facing protests from health campaigners has been praised for the way it handles complaints. Independent watchdog the Healthcare Commission has reported that Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust is one of 10 trusts it inspected, out of a total of 42, that handles complaints well. The commission reported the other 32 trusts were either told to improve or were not commended. Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust was identified by the commission as having made improvements. Anna Walker, the commission's chief executive, said given the NHS provides 380 million treatments a year, the number of complaints - 140,000 - is relatively small. The trust recently came under fire following a decision to axe 600 jobs in a bid to claw back a financial loss of £20.7m. It reversed the decision after the Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority agreed to "park" the debt. However, there are still about 50 redundancies expected and the trust is working on plans for the future of Bridlington Hospital. Campaigners fear these will include the loss of the cardiac monitoring unit and acute services. The planned March-Protest-Rally will go ahead on Saturday 20th October 2007 at 10.00am from the Bridlington Business Centre it will March on to the Bridlington Hospital site; the March is a Protest at the removing of the Cardiac Monitoring Unit (CMU) and Acute Medical Services being removed to Scarborough Hospital; Fears are that lives will be put at risk or lost? If roads are blocked to Scarborough due to a road accident or adverse weather conditions then patients will have to travel to York or Hull, what chance will a Heart Attack Victim stand , what happens to the Golden Hour? With regards to making complaints about NHS services, Miss Walker said: "When someone does complain, trusts need to respond well. "If they do not, it could seriously damage people's faith in the NHS." The first step for patients who wish to complain is to contact their GP or the local primary care trust. If the issue is not resolved, he or she has six months to take their complaint to the Healthcare Commission for independent review. |
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