Basildon Hosptial hits the news headlines

Basildon Hosptial hits the news headlines

Fri, 27/11/2009 - 10:12 |

Steve

You may well have seen or heard Basildon Hospital in the news, sadly not for the best of reasons. If not, you can catch the story here at the BBc news website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8382036.stm

Thurrock LINk, together with our colleagues at Essex and Southend LINk hope to get some more information about this and wil share it as soon as we are able. In the meantime you are, as always, welcome to contact us with any further iformation or concerns.

UPDATE... MARCH 2010

Sadly the events at Basildon Hospital are still making the headlines, Thurrock LINk have been attending the Health Overview and Scruitiny meetings and taking an active part in the questions being asked of the Chief Executive and Director of Nursing.

Thurrock LINk chairman Steve Westrop made the following press release;

Thurrock LINk are pleased to have been asked by the Council's Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee to carry out an "Enter and View" visit at Basildon Hospital. When BTUH first hit the national headlines Thurrock LINk's Chairman, Steve Westrop, and Project Manager, Kim O'Connell decided NOT to exercise Local Involvement Networks' legislative powers to enter and view health and social care providers where they have reason to believe there may be problems, since there were already many other bodies involved. Thurrock LINk has maintained a keen interest in developments at the Hospital, and have also expressed their concerns over the morale of the many staff who continue to provide and deliver an excellent level of care. The Hospital bosses display of 'complacency' at the HOSC meeting and their failure to provide requested information has further eroded their relationship with both Thurrock Council and Thurrock LINk, leaving a feeling of distrust and discomfort.

At the Annual Members Meeting last year a question was asked about the Hospital's care of patients with learning disabilities, prompted in part by the tragic and inexcusable death of Kyle Flack. At that meeting the Trust explained that a Quality Improvement Plan was in place to address these issues and concerns. Thurrock LINk requested this document, which the Hospital is obliged under LINk legislation to provide within 20 days. To date this document has still not been received, though Maggie Rogers, Director of Nursing, promised to ensure it was sorted at the HOSC meeting in January, having previously stated that the document was being revised. Another source within the PCT stated that the document has never been formally agreed.

Thurrock LINk remains concerned about all aspects of Health and Social Care provision for Thurrock residents, and will continue to strive to ensure that the services delivered locally meet the needs of local people. The reported problems in the Hospital can mostly be rectified fairly quickly if prioritised, funded and addressed correctly. Reputations and trust take longer to heal, and there are many people in the local area now that will go to any length to avoid going to Basildon Hospital. This trend looks set to continue, with many local residents calling for management sacrifices. Thurrock LINk is very interested to hear the continued thoughts and comments of local residents and will continue to feed these back to Thurrock Council, South West Essex and, despite not asking to hear the feedback, Basildon & Thurrock University Hospitals Trust. LINk can be contacted free on 0800 0805080 or by email on office@thurrocklink.org

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