Plans approved for better patient care

8:32am Friday 4th July 2008

A hospital has promised to improve services after being rated as one of the worst performing trusts in the country for patient care.

Figures released by the Healthcare Commission in May showed West Hertford-shire Hospitals NHS Trust finished sixth from bottom of 164 trusts nationwide for overall patient care.

Categories in which it performed badly included waiting list times, ward or hospital cleanliness, noise in wards at night, staff levels, and communication between staff and patients.

The trust runs Watford General Hospital, which is used by one third of Hertsmere patients.

But at a board meeting last Thursday, trust chief executive Jan Filochowski approved a programme to improve care. The work undertaken will include staff adopting a new core standards of behaviour code and receiving communication skills training.

The trust will have a website, called You Said: We Did, which will highlight where improvements have been made to encourage best practice in the hospital. It also plans to improve signs inside and outside hospital buildings.

Mr Filochowski said: "Although the trust has made significant progress in the quality of care it provides and how it manages its finances, this alone is not enough.

"As we celebrate the NHS's 60th birthday, we must concentrate on improving the perception of those who use our services by delivering compassionate and efficient healthcare."

A trust spokeswoman said the work will be spearheaded by several staff members who have volunteered to champion change to improve the patients' experience in the hospitals.

She said: "We will also be carrying out a series of mini-surveys of our patients over the next few months to gauge the effectiveness of these changes and to show us how we can improve further."

Councillor Brenda Batten, portfolio holder for health, said: "The trust is taking positive steps to improve its reputation with patient care and it has now put a lot of measures in place.

"With health reports you have to take them for what they are. There is certainly no smoke without fire, so hopefully the trust will have learned from its mistakes and will improve for the next assessment."

The Healthcare Commission will release its annual health check report in October.