An exploration of the UK unpaid carer's world

Hereford Times - December 2013 this page is a satellite of this page - Item 4

Updates 2 Feb 2014 re Health Trust and Health Watch at foot of page.

Numbers inserted into quoted text serve to aid referencing.

1a Parking charges at Hereford County Hospital 1b Petition wants cut in hospital parking fees
2a - Hospital in need of a full health check 2b - Chief claims safety is not at risk
Hospital faces health probe
Child care cuts to hit hard

1a Parking charges at Hereford County Hospital Front page, 5 December see update at foot of page

Parking charges at Hereford County Hospital - already among the highest in the county - are due to go up again.
A meeting of the Wye Valley NHS Trust (WVT) board was told this week that the charges would increase once more before the relevant contract ran out in 2016.
Of 18 public questions put to the board at the meeting, 17 related to high parking charges and their impact on patients and visitors.
Under the 30-year PFI deal that got the hospital built in 2002, management of the car park is sub-contracted out over a 10 year term to Car Parking Plus by WVT's PFI partner Sodexo.

more return to leaflet here

1b Petition wants cut in hospital parking fees p7 - 12 December

By Bill Tanner

01432 845 878 bill.tanner@herefbrdtiines

Twitter ©HTnewsroom

A petition has been launched to put the squeeze on "excessive" parking charges at Hereford County Hospital.

Last week the Hereford Times revealed that parking charges at the hospital, already among the highest in the county, are due to go up again before 2016.

Cash-strapped Wye Valley NHS Trust (WVT) has ruled out a ' return to subsidising parking costs imposed by its PFI partners Mercia Healthcare and Sodexo.

Management of the car park is subcontracted to Car Parking Plus on a 10-year term signed off in 2006.

WVT does not directly manage the car parks or the contract that covers the running of them, and so income from car parking fees does not directly contribute to Trust finances.

This week the Trust put available parking concessions into place as an alternative. Circumstances covered by current concessions include:

• When there have been delays to treatment at the hospital

• When parents of children have to stay at the hospital overnight

• When multiple visits to the hospital are made in one week

• For patients in receipt of approved benefits.

The Trust says staff on the hospital's reception desks have been "fully briefed" on what concessions are available. A new petition, launched by community campaigner Amanda Attfield, calls for the "monopoly"* charges to be cut.

The petition can be found at you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/-stop-excessive-car-parking-charges-i at-hospitals

This text has been scanned from the newspaper since advanced searches of the Hereford Times website revealed nothing. Can you find anything?

Unsuccessful search of HT site here

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2a Hospital in need of a full health check Editorial p 37 - 5 December 2013,

This time last year we revealed that Hereford County Hospital had failed a fire safety inspection.*
Last week we revealed that faulty ventilation in the operating theatres represented an "extreme risk" to patients.
Over the intervening months Wye Valley NHS Trust has had relations with its PFI partners as stretched as its budgets. The time has come for a full health and safety inspection of Hereford County Hospital and the application of the PFI contract.
Such an inspection is the only way a line under the PFI deal can be drawn and contractual responsibilities clearly identified.
We also urge Jesse Norman to raise the issue in the Commons at the earliest opportunity and press the case for action. In 2011, the then WVT chief executive Martin Woodford told us the £930m PFI deal that got the hospital built probably would not have been done 10 years on without "closer examination" of its terms. Though we've been reporting on the ramifications ever since, the fact remains that without that deal a hospital would not have been built at all. Time, then, too remind ourselves just for whom it was built,

This text has been scanned from the newspaper since advanced searches of the Hereford Times website revealed nothing. Can you find anything?

Other reports here. Jesse Norman Big Society book

* ..... inspection by Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service revealed problems, which meant that if a fire broke out at Hereford County Hospital, there was a danger of it spreading. It too served an enforcement notice and temporary control measures were put in place. - See more

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2b Chief claims safety is not at risk p 17 - 12 December 2013,

The chief executive of Wye Valley NHS Trust says it is "business as usual" at Hereford County Hospital after revelations surfaced stating safety standards put patients and staff at risk.

In an open letter, Derek Smith claims there is no evidence of patients being affected by faulty ventilation systems serving the hospital's operating theatres.

As reported by the Hereford Times last week, Hereford and South Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman has written to the Health and Safety Executive asking for an investigation into how standards at the hospital could have been compromised by the £930 million Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract that got it built.

In that letter, Mr Norman said there was evidence to suggest "actions or omissions" by PFI partners may have been detrimental to patient and staff safety in areas including fire compartmentation and maintenance of fireproofing, ventilation and pressurisation in the operating theatres, the provision of emergency alarm systems and the unregulated discharge of nitrous oxide gas in the maternity unit.

Mr Norman said a review of correspondence between the trust and its PFI partners offered "detailed support" for these claims.

Papers seen by the Hereford Times describe a deteriorating relationship between the trust and its PFI partners over contractual responsibilities and related legal wrangles.

Last month, the Hereford Times revealed that all eight operating theatres at the hospital represented an "extreme risk" to patients after serious faults with ventilation and air systems were identified. Further revelations about safety standards, followed.

Remedial work on the theatres has now been completed with the hospital having to catch up on 18 weeks of cancelled operations.

Mr Smith confirmed "robust additional monitoring" was now applied to the ventilation systems maintained by the PFI partners.

" Following exhaustive air quality tests, there is no evidence that patients will have been affected by these issues," he said.

"It's very much business as usual."

Internet search unsuccessful here. Ditto HT site here.

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3 Hospital faces health probe p 2 - 5 December 2013

By Bill Tanner

01432 845 878 bill.tanner@herefbrdtiines

Twitter ©HTnewsroom

Hereford County Hospital faces an investigation into how health and safety standards could have been compromised by the £930 million Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract that got the hospital built.
Jesse Norman MP has written to the Health and Safety Executive asking for such an investigation over increasing concerns at conditions faced by patients and staff.
A year ago, the Hereford Times revealed that the hospital had failed a fire safety inspection because the building had not been properly "compartmented" in order to stop the spread of fire.
Last week, we revealed that all eight operating theatres at the hospital represented an "extreme risk" to patients after serious faults with ventilation and air systems were identified.
Subsequent revelations raised questions over communication equipment in the theatres and the ability of surgical teams to summon help without leaving the patient.
One report referred to help having to be summoned by a rape alarm thrown into the theatre corridor.
The maternity unit has also been exposed to illegal levels of nitrous oxide gas as a result of faulty equipment. A number of delivery rooms were closed.
Papers and documents seen by the Hereford Times describe a deteriorating relationship between Wye Valley NHS Trust and its PFI partner Mercia Healthcare over contractual responsibilities and related legal wrangling.
Mr Norman, the MP for Hereford and South Herefordshire, first raised concerns about the PFI contract in August 2011.
This week, he wrote to the HSE asking for a full investigation into the hospital and the application of the PFI contract that, he said, left the trust with limited scope to tackle "enormous; trouble"!
Hereford was one of the' first hospitals built under PFI.
The 30-year contract had the hospital built, owned and managed through Mercia Healthcare, a special purpose company 75 per cent owned by Semperian, a London based PFI firm, and 25 per cent by French industrial giant Sodexo.
The trust said this week that Mercia and its operating contractor, Sodexo, had undertaken "remedial work" to have the fire enforcement notice withdrawn and the theatres made safe.

This text has been scanned from the newspaper since advanced searches of the Hereford Times website revealed nothing. Can you find anything?

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4 Child care cuts to hit hard p 17 - 5 December 2013

By Bill Tanner

01432 845 878 bill.tanner@herefbrdtiines

Only the "most vulnerable" families will be a priority for Herefordshire Council's future children's services.
Councillor Jeremy Millar, cabinet member for children's services here, warned this week that such services would soon have to rely on community initiatives for support.
Projected budgets and related cuts , mean the focus of statutory council responsibilities have to be on the most vulnerable families, he said.
The children's wellbeing directorate has already opened talks with local businesses, community and voluntary organisations, education providers and others involved in delivering services for children. ((here and search here ))
Councillor Millar's warning comes ahead of Herefordshire Voluntary Organisations Support Service (HVOSS) announcing "action workshops" on Tuesday, December 10 to assess the impact of the cuts on the county's voluntary and community sector.
One possible option is to hold the meeting at the Starlite Room at Hereford United Football Club from 2pm to 4pm. Another alternative is to meet at the Kindle Centre at ASDA in Hereford, from 7pm to 9pm. here
Key themes will be children and young people, health and wellbeing and project investment. There will be also be debate on the potential for communities to deliver specific services.
Around 4,500 county children are designated as living in poverty, with some 2,500 receiving free school meals and a similar number having special education needs.
The council's troubled child safeguarding service supports 2,000 children with 450 needing the highest levels of protection from harm.
As reported by the Hereford Times, child safeguarding - already rated inadequate by Ofsted - saw a "significant and unacceptable" reduction in performance from July to September, with case volume and staff turnover primary factors.
The projected outturn for children's well-being identifies more than £500,000 of new budget pressures in the current financial year.
To confirm your attendance at the workshops, (see 11) call Angela Higgleton on 01432 343932, or email angela.higgleton@hvoss.org.uk ((hvoss is also mentioned on the Ross Carer website 12 Dec Update here))