Tag: Addenbrookes

Cambridge Health Emergency – a voice for Addenbrookes

07:26 Wednesday 14th October 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: A few weeks ago when the Trust that runs Addenbrookes and the Rosie was put into special measures plenty of you got in touch wanting to show your support for the hospitals. Well three weeks on it seems that the fightback for those places is starting to find its voice. Last night a meeting took place in Cambridge for people who want to defend Addenbrookes. They formed a campaign group called Cambridge Health Emergency. Martin Booth joins me, a retired Addenbrookes worker who helped organise last night’s meeting. Morning Martin .
MARTIN BOOTH: Good morning.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So why organise this meeting last night?
MARTIN BOOTH: Well as you said a lot of people have already expressed their concern and alarm really about events at Addenbrookes over the last few weeks. First of all we had the Chief Executive and the Finance Director resigning out of the blue with no notice at all. And then following that the Care Quality Commission report saying that the Trust was ‘inadequate’, something which a lot of people would disagree with to be honest, but at the same time highlighting very serious problems, which the report indicated many of them were caused by a lack of sufficient funding and resources, particularly the lack of staff to fully provide the services that are needed. And then the Trust being placed in special measures.
DOTTY MCLEOD: But what’s your campaign group going to do? What’s your aim Martin with this group?
Continue reading “Cambridge Health Emergency – a voice for Addenbrookes”

eHospital at Addenbrookes – Monitor has renewed concerns

17:11 Friday 31st August 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DAVE WEBSTER: Twelve months after an investigation into the financial situation at the county’s biggest hospital, they’re under investigation again for the same issue. This time part of the problem Monitor the health regulator are looking at is the eHospital computer programme. It cost £200 million. The patient record system promised to put all information available on a patient and their treatment in one place, allowing doctors to provide efficient and effective treatment. Well that was ten months ago, and the system and the finances surrounding its introduction are now under the microscope. Joining me now is Stephen Hay who is the managing Director of the health regulator Monitor. Good evening Stephen. Thanks for joining us.
STEPHEN HAY: Good evening Dave. Pleased to be here.
DAVE WEBSTER: So why just a year after you ended action over concerns about finances and the way the hospital’s run, have you opened up a new file?
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Outsourcing of Cambridgeshire elder care – transfer is just a fortnight away

07:07 Friday 20th March 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Here’s our lead story this morning. Concerns raised about a ground-breaking Cambridgeshire NHS health contract. It’s due to take effect in two weeks time. It’s worth £800 million, and is the biggest single outsourcing of an NHS service in its history. On 1st April the contract to look after older people across the county will be managed and maintained by a brand new company called UnitingCare. It’s made up of a consortium between Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the CPFT. In a moment we’ll be talking to two people who’ve raised concerns about the changes, but first here’s part of a video, produced by United Care that’s been posted on their website, which explains what they do.
(AUDIO)
(MALE VOICE 1) We’re looking after an increasingly aging population with more complex diseases, more co-morbities. Now what we want to do is provide really joined up care for them.
(MALE VOICE 2) Care of older people is often badly affected by the fact that several organisations are trying to be involved, and that people fall between the cracks in the service, and often end up with care of the last resort in hospital.
(FEMALE VOICE 1) Working within an integrated partnership will allow us to provide consistency across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and that service will be available to everybody across that area, which is important.
(LIVE)
CHRIS MANN: So glossy video, very slick website, but is it all really as good as that, and how is the changeover going to happen? Concerns raised first of all by Steve Sweeney, who’s Regional Officer of the GMB Union. Hello Steve.
STEVE SWEENEY: Good morning.
CHRIS MANN: And thousands of your members will be involved in this.
Continue reading “Outsourcing of Cambridgeshire elder care – transfer is just a fortnight away”

Papworth Transfer Concerns Raised

10:24 Friday 2nd May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: The planned move of Papworth Hospital to the Addenbrookes site was given the final approval yesterday, after over a decade of planning and deliberation. The plans looked uncertain earlier this year when it was proposed that it be moved to Peterborough City Hospital site instead. Peterborough’s MP Stewart Jackson gave his views on the move to the Bigger Breakfast Show.
(TAPE)
STEWART JACKSON: I generally support the proposals, and I can understand why people like the local MP and others in the South of the county are very pleased with it. My problem comes back to under-utilisation of the facilities at Peterborough, particularly the fourth floor of Peterborough City Hospital. How are we going to continue to scrub our face financially and keep clinical services going at Peterborough City Hospital? That’s an ongoing issue which the Department of Health and the Treasury obviously need to keep addressing.
(LIVE)
ANDIE HARPER: But what does this move mean for people living near the Hospital now? Geoff Heathcock, the former Cambridgeshire county councillor lives in the area, and he’s on the line. Geoff, good morning to you.
GEOFF HEATHCOCK: Good morning to you Andie.
ANDIE HARPER: So, most people would agree that Papworth needed updating, if not completely rebuilding. There were a choice of sites, but Addenbrookes it is, as we all suspected when we first talked about it eleven years ago. What about the area? What impact is this going to have?
Continue reading “Papworth Transfer Concerns Raised”

Tuberculosis Outbreak in Chatteris

08:07 Tuesday 25th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: People in Chatteris say they’ve been kept in the dark over an outbreak of tuberculosis at two vegetable processing plants in the town. Health Protection England has sought to play down fears, after confirming 17 workers have been diagnosed with the deadly illness since 2012. But earlier Chatteris town councillor Florence Newell told us she was absolutely livid about the lack of information.
(TAPE)
FLORENCE NEWELL: This has been going on since 2012 in Chatteris, and neither the Town Council nor the District Council were informed. We should have known. If this has been going on since 2012, and they’re people that are working in factories in Chatteris, we should have known.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Well we stopped routinely immunising children against tuberculosis in 2005, and according to the last recent figures there were 88 cases of TB in Cambridgeshire in 2011. There were a total of 521 across the whole region. But a lot of you are very unhappy this morning and very worried. Cases are on the increase. So are people in Chatteris right to be so concerned? Well Dr Estée Török is a consultant in infectious diseases at Addenbrookes Hospital. Morning.
ESTEE TOROK: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: First of all, why is TB on the increase?
ESTEE TOROK: Well, in the United Kingdom we have about nearly 9,000 cases of TB reported every year, and it has been gradually increasing over the last few years. The reason for that really is that most of the people who develop TB have been born abroad. And as you know we have more people who have been born abroad who are living in the United Kingdom than we used to. And so it may well be related to that.
PAUL STAINTON: So it’s immigration that’s exacerbating the problem.
ESTEE TOROK: It may well be. Yes. So a lot of these people may have acquired TB in childhood when they lived at home, and then they’re obviously presenting in adulthood when they’re living and working in the United Kingdom.
Continue reading “Tuberculosis Outbreak in Chatteris”

Stagecoach willing to manage Cambridge Park And Ride sites

08:08 Tuesday 8th October 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: We’ll start at the Park and Ride, on the day that councillors in Cambridgeshire discuss proposals to bring in the £1 parking charge. We’re asking, what should we do with the Park and Ride sites? Should it be sold to a private company? The County Council says it costs them over £1 million a year to run the sites, and they need to save money because of spending cuts. BBC Radio Cambridgeshire has been told by workers at the Council that staff are worried about losing their jobs. Currently eight people work at the site. Two years ago there were fifteen. The waiting areas and help desks are often closed. Well earlier in the show, opposition LibDem councillor Susan van de Ven said the Council had rushed their decision making process.
(TAPE)
SUSAN VAN DE VEN: The charging policy is a knee-jerk reaction and the short term solution to something. The Council has continually told us that congestion builds up. That has a huge cost to business, and we need to keep people moving, and Park and Ride figures as the lynch-pin in a multi-modal transport way of getting around.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: Cllr van de Ven went on to say that officials need to look at other ways of raising money.
(TAPE)
SUSAN VAN DE VEN: Rural South Cambridgeshire is going to be affected greatly by a parking charge, and many of these people don’t have basic services in their villages, such as post offices and shops. And we know that there’s a large elderly population that depend on getting around by bus. So why not introduce some of those village services to Park and Ride.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: So should the Council sell the sites, privatise them, make some cash and leave it to a private company to run them? Well I’m joined in the studio by Cllr Mac McGuire, who’s the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways and Community Infrastructure. Morning.
MAC MCGUIRE: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: And Andy Campbell’s with us as well, the Managing Director of Stagecoach, who currently run the bus services from the five Park and Ride sites. So Andy, can you do a better job at running these sites, do you think?
Continue reading “Stagecoach willing to manage Cambridge Park And Ride sites”

Cambridge House Prices

17:52 Wednesday 1st May 2013
Drive
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: There’s a warning this evening that the meteoric rise of Cambridge house prices is unsustainable. and will cause ruin when they come crashing down. David Furlow founder of cambridgehouseprices.co.uk said there’s a Cambridge delusion, in which people have been conditioned to assume house prices will only go up. I put this theory to leading local estate agent Chris Carey of Bidwells. (TAPE)
CHRIS CAREY: Well to be honest, this is no surprise that we have concerns raised, because Cambridge as ever tends to buck the trend, the UK housing trend. I’ve been in Cambridge all my life, and I’ve been in property over thirty years, and over the last few decades this has arisen quite regularly. I certainly remember the late ’80s boom, which quite frankly was certainly unsustainable. And of course most of us who were around at that time remember the long recession from ’89 through to the mid-90s. So this isn’t a recent phenomenon.
CHRIS MANN: So, is there a chance that these prices will come crashing down, the bubble will burst and everyone will be ruined? Continue reading “Cambridge House Prices”

New Ways To Tackle Capacity Issues At Addenbrookes And Peterborough City Hospital

08:07 Thursday 18th April 2013
Bigger Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: The Patients Association has criticised a new initiative which uses financial incentives to cut down on bed blocking at one of Cambridgeshire’s biggest hospitals. Wards at Addenbrookes are being offered money if they manage to discharge two patients by 10am every day. Last month there was an average of 76 delayed transfers of care, with an average of 277 delayed days. Now whilst the new policy may help to ease the pressure on beds, and guard against so many cancelled operations and appointments, is it always in the best interests of the patients, especially given the strain on care in the community? Well Catherine Murphy is Chief Execuive of the Patients Association. Earlier she told me why the Association was vehemently against the idea. Continue reading “New Ways To Tackle Capacity Issues At Addenbrookes And Peterborough City Hospital”