8:20am Tuesday 28th October 2008
By John Harrison
It is no exaggeration to say last October was one of the darkest months in Watford General Hospital’s history.
A damning health report had just rated quality of services and financial management at West Hertfordshire NHS Hospitals Trust as “weak” - the lowest possible rating.
It was the second consecutive year the trust had received a “double weak” score, leaving it among the worst in the country.
Burdened by a huge deficit, with hospital infections rampant and the trust in disarray, chief executive, David Law, resigned.
Twelve months on and under the leadership of Jan Filochowski, the trust has undergone a remarkable turnaround. This year’s Healthcare Commission report, released last Thursday, rated the trust as “fair”.
The result is particularly good for the trust because the commission conducts its reviews between April and March, meaning Mr Filochowski had just five months to turn the situation around.
This week, almost a year to the day since taking the job, Mr Filochowski revealed he was advised to “not touch Watford with a barge-pole”.
“It was a scary experience to begin with,“ he said.
Faced with the prospect of a third straight “double weak” rating he spent the first two months getting to grips with the trust’s failings, a period he said was “very hard, very stressful and very lonely”.
Speaking from Watford General hospital last week, Mr Filochowski said: “First of all, we had a very long history of substantial deficit. Then we had a lot of problems with waiting lists in casualty - we probably had some of the worst waits for inpatients and outpatients in the country. The third, big problem, was infection.”
Since taking his place at the helm of the trust, Mr Filochowski and staff at Watford have made a big difference. Waiting times in A&E are now hitting national targets. Twelve months ago, two thirds of patients requiring an operation had to wait longer than the government’s 18-week target. Now it is just ten per cent.
Last August, 86 cases of clostridium difficile (C-Diff) were found in Watford and Hemel Hempstead. This August, there was just one case, while no patient in West Herts has had MRSA for more than eight weeks. So why are fewer people catching superbugs?
“It is very simple things. It is about giving it a high priority, it is about creating infection control areas and we have massively reduced the prescribing of two antibiotics,” Mr Filochowski explains.
”We have also had a huge publicity campaign for both staff and patients. Now, if staff do not wash their hands they will be spoken to and if they still don’t, it will become a disciplinary matter. I think on one or two occasions we have disciplined people.”
Mr Filochowski said he hopes to have empowered staff, while making them more accountable and also said he has been more realistic about the pressures of cost-cutting.
“I think previously there was a requirement to cut costs and so people were told you had to cut costs come what may. This damaged services and once you damage services it costs you more to put them right.”
Instead the Trust now aims for “reasonable” savings that are deliverable.
Last year, it aimed to save £20m, then cut services across the board and ended up saving just £5m. This year, an £11m saving should be met.The trust is now moving towards achieving foundation status, while the business plan for the Watford Health Campus is again a priority.
Mr Filochowski added: “I want people to say Watford is the place that leads the country.”
“We have got great, realistic ideas that have national support and I think we have every chance of providing something people are going to come from around the country and say ‘that’s the way to do it’.”
© Copyright 2001-2010 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.borehamwoodtimes.co.uk