Heart of England hospital trust one of most complained about in UK - Birmingham Mail - 2 December...

Dear friends,

You may have seen my press release on Friday about the concerns that I and local Councillors have around the strain which our local NHS Trust (including Heartlands Hospital) is under. The Birmingham Mail have today published a story about Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust which proves many of the concerns we've been hearing in the community recently. Heart of England hospital trust one of most complained about in UKThree serious complaints made to health ombudsman EACH DAY about NHS Trust, watchdog reveals A troubled Birmingham hospital trust has been named and shamed as one of the worst in the country for patient complaints. Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) received 958 complaints to the Health Ombudsman in 2013/14 – almost three a day. The shocking figures which places the trust as 13th on the league of shame, come just a month after it was revealed that thousands of patients were waiting more than four hours in A&E. Health watchdog Monitor slammed the leadership at HEFT and just a few days later chief executive Mark Newbold resigned. New data has also showed that in 2013/14 the trust received 404,697 clinical incidents ranking it the fourth busiest out of 440 NHS Trusts and CCGs across the country. The figures were released earlier this week by Dame Julie Mellor, the health ombudsman. Hodge Hill MP Liam Byrne (Lab) said: “This fresh evidence proves concerns which have been growing for months. Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust is overstretched. “The staff at hospitals such as Heartlands do brilliant work but mismanaged resources such as our local NHS health centres mean that they are fighting a losing battle. “More and more people are having to head for the hospital when they should and could be being treated at their local health centres. We need a plan for getting our multi-million pound health centres in Washwood Heath and Hodge Hill fully operational as soon as possible.” Latest figures show 5,518 patients waited more than the four hour target at Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull hospitals, all run by the Trust, compared to 1,619 in 2009/10 – an increase of 240 per cent. Action is being taken to improve services and strengthen leadership so patients receive better care. Conditions have been imposed on HEFT’s licence so that Monitor can take further action if it does not perform better. Waiting times are also said to be too long for routine operations and cancer care patients and there were additional concerns regarding mortality rates. Heartlands NHS Trust was unavailable for comment.