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Letters Hinchingbrooke Hospital

Hinchingbrooke Hospital’s reply to “inadequate” rating on patient care

BMJ 2015; 350 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h293 (Published 20 January 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h293
  1. Suzanne Hamilton, chair1
  2. On behalf of Shashank Ranjan, Rupert Bourne, Atif Alvi, Andrew Wojcik, Sally Bashford, Adrian Harris, Alexander Martin, Hassan Wazait, Rizwan Hasan, Cornelius Rene, Lydia Chang, David Mitchell, Helen Johnson, Ingo Hille, Tony Barabas, Ashish Pradhan, Reza Jenabzadeh, Ahmed Mohamed, Nobila Jamali, Colin Boland, Annelise Matthews, Sangeeta Pathak, Toks Akerele, Tony Morgan, Filippo Di Franco, David Ward, Ibrahim Srouji, Catherine Hubbard, Catherine Hoggarth, Cheryl Palmer, Hagen Schumacher, Marianne Shiew, Dr Meldou, Anitha Mathews, Bhanti Felli, Sayam Dubash, Erika Manzo, Rona Connick, Jose Taveres, Kevin Walsh, Mark Lillicrap
  1. 1Medical Advisory Committee, Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon PE29 6NT, UK
  1. suzanne.hamilton1{at}nhs.net

Over the past three years there have been many positive changes to the quality of services (for example, the colorectal department) and to the number of services offered by Hinchingbrooke (provision of in-house urology; ear, nose, and throat; and plastic and hand surgery).

Recent data on mortality show that it is significantly lower than in other hospitals and the overall trend for mortality is reducing.1 We have had no cases of meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus for two years and only six hospital acquired cases of Clostridium difficile in 12 months. Serious incidents have dropped, while reporting levels are high (trust data).

In the “friends and family test,” 97% of patients recommend us.2 We were in the top 20% of hospitals for patients rating our care “good” or “excellent” (94% did) in the national cancer patients survey.3 We have met the 18 week waiting time target for the past two years and consistently hit the main cancer and diagnostic waiting times.3 Our emergency department performance was among the best in the country last year, and above average this year (NHS England and trust data).

The recent Care Quality Commission report highlighted many problems for the hospital.4 Some areas do need improving, and as a consultant body we respect the commission’s aims and aspirations, but the report is inconsistent. It states that the commission asked fewer than 20 patients about their care in our emergency department. They rated the department as inadequate. Yet the commission’s own national survey of emergency department patients (almost 300), published in December, said that patients rated us 8.4 out of 10, and 9 out of 10 for “respect and dignity.”5 6

Hinchingbrooke’s management model is unique in that it is led by clinicians. This has given the consultant body the opportunity to be innovative and proactive in seeking better and more efficient treatments. We are a hospital full of staff committed to providing good quality care. We strive to quickly rectify any problems that are identified.

Notes

Cite this as: BMJ 2015;350:h293

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References

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