Tag: NHS Cambridgeshire

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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Monitor to investigate financial sustainability of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

17:20 Wednesday 15th April 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust has sought to reassure people of the financial sustainability of the Trust. The health watchdog Monitor has today released a statement saying that while the organisation is meeting current targets, the CPFT still faces longer term financial challenges. The Trust recently took over the management of older people’s services in Cambridgeshire as part of a consortium. Well Julie Spence has been speaking to our reporter Emma Maclean.
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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.
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Unison protest against erosion of NHS salaries

08:27 Monday 24th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: A second week of strike action by NHS workers is starting this morning. There are picket lines at hospital buildings across Cambridgeshire. Staff including midwives, nurses and paramedics are involved. They’re not happy about a Government decision to give them either a 1% pay rise or an annual increment, but not both. Sue Marchant’s been at Addenbrookes Hospital this morning. She caught up with Martin Booth who is the Cambridge Health Unison Branch Manager, and asked him about the turnout at the picket line.
MARTIN BOOTH: Well we’re certainly pleased with the response that we’re getting. We’ve got a number of members as you might have seen here, picketing the various entrances. And the people going into work, a lot of them not on strike for various reasons, but they are very supportive of the case that we’ve been making this morning.
SUE MARCHANT: So for those who are not aware, why are you striking?
MARTIN BOOTH: Because 1% which is what all public sector workers have been offered is way below the rise in the cost of living. In the case of health workers it’s even worse, because we’re recommended to get a 1% pay rise, but Jeremy Hunt said we’re not even going to get that. The only people getting that are the people at the top of their pay bands, but there’s about two thirds of health workers who are not at the top of the pay band. They’re getting no pay rise to make up for the rise in the cost of living this year, and next year we’ve not been promised anything at all. We can’t go on like this.
SUE MARCHANT: This isn’t the first strike though, is it? So where does this fit in with the strategy of what you’re trying to achieve?
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New challenges for Cambridgeshire hospitals as patient numbers rise and winter approaches

08:07 Thursday 13th November 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A new initiative to help reducing waiting times at A&E has been launched today by Cambridgeshire’s NHS Clinical Commissioning Group. It comes as figures from our three major hospitals show they’ve seen big increases in the number of people coming to the emergency department. Our reporter Sue Marchant explains.
SUE MARCHANT: The hospital’s Chief Executive Keith McNeill has blamed the severe pressure from admissions, saying the knock-ons have resulted in postponed surgery. But as far as admissions, papers reveal concern over the number of staffed beds available to patients. Bosses have also admitted eHospital is also hampering efficiency. The roll-out of the new electronic patient record system has, in their words, prompted a dip in A&E performance.
CHRIS MANN: Sue Marchant there with the situation at Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge. Well joining me now live from Peterborough City Hospital’s A&E department is our reporter Johnny D. Morning Johnny.
JOHN DEVINE: Good morning there Chris.
CHRIS MANN: And last night they went on to ‘black alert’. Is that still the case this morning?
JOHN DEVINE: No it’s not Chris I’m glad to say. We’re going to find out a bit more about that in a moment. But I’ll just describe to you the scene here. It’s a large circular reception desk in front of me. There’s a member of staff busily tapping away on the computer keyboard Chris. It’s a relatively new building this, it’s light bright and spacious. And there’s about thirty seats in front of me for admissions and their relations. I’m pleased to say they’re all empty at the moment. There is a children’s area just on the other side of the room as well. And they have nearly 2,000 people a week coming through these doors with things like bruises, sprains and fractures. But it’s all quiet on the western front at the moment Chris, and I’m going to introduce our guest for you, Celia Kendrick.
CELIA KENDRICK: Good morning.
CHRIS MANN: Good morning Celia, Head of Nursing at Peterborough City Hospital. So we’ve heard that things are pretty busy, that there are some real strains. What’s it like in your view? How bad is it at the moment?
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Partnership bid retains older people’s services within the NHS in Cambridgeshire

11:08 Wednesday 1st October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Within the last half an hour it’s been revealed who’s won the contract to run services for the over-65s in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for the next five years. The preferred bidder is the Cambridgeshire organisation Uniting Care Partnership which was one of the three bidders who made the final shortlist for the £800 million contract. It’s a decision that will be warmly welcomed by unions, and certainly the Cambridge MP Julian Huppert who joins me now. Julian, morning.
JULIAN HUPPERT: Hi Paul. It’s great news, isn’t it?
PAUL STAINTON: Well .. I can’t possibly comment. The contract stays within the NHS. is that the right idea for you? Obviously .. .
JULIAN HUPPERT: I think it’s not only good because it’s within the NHS, Uniting Care is Addenbrookes and the Mental Health Trust, but also because this is the right outcome for patients. By bringing together these bits of the NHS that haven’t always worked very well together, what you’ll see is something that looks after older people better than we’ve had before. Anybody who’s been through the system, or had elderly relatives going through it, will know that there are also silos and difficulties between hospital care, community care, mental health care and all the rest, and this will bring it together. So we get something which is better for patients, and also stays within the NHS, so you don’t have to worry about the profit motive.
PAUL STAINTON: It doesn’t necessarily follow though, does it, that you bring failing bits of this and bits of that together, and then you make one bigger successful thing. It doesn’t always follow, does it?
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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?
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NHS Privatisation of Older People Services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

17:07 Friday 7th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: The controversial move to outsource the £1 billion contract to run a large part of the NHS in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is now to go to public consultation. This is the first area in the whole country to carry out the process on this scale, which is for older people’s services. Opponents claim their campaigning has forced the six-month delay, but the people who are organising the bidding process say it was always part of their plan. With me in the studio is Martin Booth of the union Unison at the Cambridge Health branch, and also Martin, part of a campaigning group.
MARTIN BOOTH: That’s right, yes. The Stop the NHS Sell-Off in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
CHRIS MANN: We’ll be talking to you, getting your reaction in just a moment or two. Stay with us. But first, a short time ago I spoke to Dr Neil Modha, who’s head of the Clinical Commissioning Group. Yesterday it announced the short-list of final solution bidders, with four organisations now bidding. And today they’ve announced this public consultation.
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