Jackie slams "rotten and complacent" hospital

8:00am Thursday 14th February 2013 in News

THURROCK’S MP has branded the level of care at Basildon Hospital “rotten” as a major investigation begins into high death rates.

Jackie Doyle-Price, Conservative, gave her damning opinion after the announcement that a probe into mortality rates would be conducted by NHS medical director Prof Bruce Keogh.

Mrs Doyle-Price has long been vocal about the problems at the hospital, which has been the subject of several damning reports by health watchdogs.

It now faces another investigation, after the findings of a public inquiry into the deaths of more than 1,000 patients at Mid Staffordshire hospitals raised concerns about care across the NHS.

The hospital is one of five being investigated across the country, which have higher then acceptable death rates.

Mrs Doyle-Price said: “I feel vindicated because I feel like I’ve been banging my head against a brick wall. Now I have been proved right.

“There is a culture of poor care in that hospital which is so rotten no one can turn it around overnight.”

The MP said she had been trying to get answers from the hospital over its continued failings for three years.

She blamed the hospital’s previous chief executive Alan Whittle, who left in September 2012, and chairman Michael Large, who left in 2011, of presiding over a “culture of complacency” at the hospital.

She also criticised the hospital’s non-executive directors for failing to challenge the hospital’s senior managers over the crisis.

Mrs Doyle-Price said the problems identified at Mid Staffordshire between 2005 and 2009 could be the same at Basildon.

She said: “If you read the Mid Staffordshire report, as I have, you could have substituted the place for Basildon and it would be the same story.

“What the Prime Minister said, although he was making a statement about Mid Staffordshire, is the problems there are systemic, which is why we are looking at other hospitals.

“I would concur with the Prime Minister that there is a culture of complacency in individual hospitals.

“Whenever I challenged the chief executive and chairman they were dismissive and told me Basildon was no worse than anywhere else, but that isn’t good enough.

“Some of them just turn up and take the money. They have totally failed in their duty to the local community and I’m quite sure this will all come out in the review.”

Mrs Doyle-Price added introducing a tougher regulatory system for hospitals was the only way to prevent the crisis happening again.

She added: “Since the last chairman and chief executive have gone I detect, from the new people in place at Basildon Hospital, a much more responsible attitude and I’m not seeing the complacency I saw before.”

Comments(17)

C.E.R. says...
9:43am Thu 14 Feb 13

Well done Jackie Doyle for sharing her findings.
I would like to know if anything is going to be done.
I pray that me or my family are in need of hospital treatment and are taken to Basildon.
How low can this hospital go.
Heads must roll and action taken.

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fletch12107 says...
9:50am Thu 14 Feb 13

I doubt much will happen if the outcome of Titilola Orefuwa is anything to go by. This person got a 12 suspension for complete negligence.

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Cvh says...
9:57am Thu 14 Feb 13

Needs sorting well done JDP

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The Blue Frog says...
11:08am Thu 14 Feb 13

C.E.R. wrote:
Well done Jackie Doyle for sharing her findings. I would like to know if anything is going to be done. I pray that me or my family are in need of hospital treatment and are taken to Basildon. How low can this hospital go. Heads must roll and action taken.
CER - I'm not sure you meant that. Surely you pray not to be taken to Basildon Hospital.

I lost my father and my uncle there within weeks of eachother in 2009.

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smallal says...
11:36am Thu 14 Feb 13

How many more 'investigations' are we going to have? This death camp has been investigated several times, but all we seem to get is 'recommendations' that never get implemented. Its time to sweep away the current management, all of them!

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jb411 says...
11:50am Thu 14 Feb 13

It's been bad for a long time - I have an 90 year old mother, who went through a speight of needing hospital attention. One night I was there with her until 5am from 20.00 the previous evening. Spent hours waiting for emergency blood tests - when I queried why it was taking so long - they discovered it was still sitting in the tray! Then had to find a nurse as another old lady had been calling for the bedpan for about 30 mins and was just ignored - no they wasn't busy they were standing around chatting and were within hearing distance. When I spoke to one of them she sucked her teeth and moved away. I hope I never have to be an inpatient there.

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ebagumtrebor says...
1:25pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Sucking of teeth. I wonder what part of the world that one was from.

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Freddy K says...
1:28pm Thu 14 Feb 13

The current management of Basildon Hospital have been left to run this place down and should now be fired and a team of specialists installed to reverse the trend, the board of governess have also just sat on their hands and let this happen in front of them, again they should all be dismissed and a new board set-up who can carry this hospital forward.

Action needs to be taken quickly as this is the only hospital now available to an ever growing population in Thurrock and the surrounding areas.

Darenth Hospital is miles better than our antiquated hospital, maybe the local Secondary care Trust need to take a look at how Kent County Council run their services.

Is Cllr Kent still on the board at Basildon, if so he needs to hang his head in shame at the complete mess that this hospital has become

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ebagumtrebor says...
1:40pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Having been a Thurrock resident for most of my life and recently moved to Kent, I can honestly say that the difference in the level of service in both GP practices, community hsopitals and general hospitals makes Thurrock look like a war torn country. I can't believe what a tip the place has become. You don't get sucking of teeth where I now live.

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Cvh says...
4:42pm Thu 14 Feb 13

Its high time we did something about this
Im not talking gun toting revoultion (although its not a bad idea) something we can make the powers at be stand up and take notice maybe the BBC

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Bernard 87 says...
11:07am Fri 15 Feb 13

Well done to JDP for continuously raising this issue.

Hospitals must be very difficult to run but that should not mean that patient care slips downwards. I do think that we need a massive recruitment drive to get young people born in this country into the medical and caring professions. For too long Britain has imported NHS staff and over the last 15 or so years the level of care has slipped dramatically. We need to get rid of some of these top managers, drag the top rate of pay down and reinvest that money by increasing the salaries of the nurses, porters etc etc while improving training.

I've heard pretty bad things about Darenth Valley, Southend and Queens. I think everyone thinks their local hospital is worse than it is but the main problem with Basildon is that it is struggling to cope with the amount of people it has to serve. We either need a new hospital or stop building so many houses and flats in this area.

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pmc1969 says...
1:09pm Fri 15 Feb 13

With the available money falling, the costs increasing, some due to the inflationary pressures as our own budgets, and an aging population, are we going to end up just tinkering with the edges, falling back on just blaming the staff, and yes I know some are incompetent but we do have a tendency to throw babies out with bathwater, and leave us with a service that at best is exactly the same and at worse even worse.

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skinthegoat says...
8:05pm Fri 15 Feb 13

pmc1969 wrote:
With the available money falling, the costs increasing, some due to the inflationary pressures as our own budgets, and an aging population, are we going to end up just tinkering with the edges, falling back on just blaming the staff, and yes I know some are incompetent but we do have a tendency to throw babies out with bathwater, and leave us with a service that at best is exactly the same and at worse even worse.
Could you put that in English.....?
As a member of the ageing population to whom you refer,I find your logic somewhat incomprehensible.
Is 1969 the year of your birth and are of a foreign persuasion.....?
( Nah.... I'm just getting senile....)

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Marcus P says...
11:17pm Fri 15 Feb 13

Just a thought...do any of these problems arise from the 10% net increase in demand since 2003, for the services of this hospital due to mass migration?

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ebagumtrebor says...
3:59am Sat 16 Feb 13

When the government and the media won't talk about something you know it must be bad. That's why mass immigration is never mentioned as a cause of the problems facing not just this country but Europe and America. Look at the left (progressive) policy of mass immigration across western economies. when it began and when western economies started to go down the pan. The health service is just one part of it that all western economies are currently strugging to deal with. Huge welfare states and a housing market that is failing everyone. Very progressive.

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syncmaster86 says...
12:54pm Mon 18 Feb 13

Finally, Marcus P and ebagumtrebor, someone hits the nail on head. The population for the area that Basildon Hospital provides coverage seems to be ever increasing whilst funding decreases. How is the Hospital supposed to cope?
The staff seem to be trying to do everything they can to care for the patients, in my experience. I admit that not everyone's experience will be same. How about cutting out some of the overpaid big wigs? Not the porters and nurses who on considerably less money!

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DannyButcher says...
6:57pm Mon 18 Feb 13

I can't say anything against Basildon Hospital as they saved my life last year. I did notice a few things that weren't quite right, but one thing really did wind me up.

A 'foreign' person who couldn't speak English, had apparently been in pain with the same issue for over 6 months, but as he was working in Sweden, (who don't have free healthcare) he waited for his boat to dock at Tilbury and then went to Basildon a+e only to be admitted.

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