Harrogate district hospital Archives - Page 9 of 45

Harrogate hospital: Patients will be safe during junior doctors’ four-day strike

The chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has given assurances that patients will be safe during an upcoming junior doctors strike.

Doctors union the British Medical Association announced that its members will take part in industrial action from today until 7am on Saturday, April 15.

The strike will be longer than the 72-hour action by junior doctors that took place at Harrogate District Hospital last month and follows other strikes this year by nurses and ambulance workers.

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of the hospital trust, told a meeting of the trust’s board members that the hospital has a “robust plan” in place to deal with any disruption should the junior doctors strike goes ahead as planned.

He said:

“Lots of work went into preparing for the last junior doctor’s strike. The biggest learning we found was the role of other professionals to cover roles.

“The strike is obviously concerning but I’m confident we’ll have safe services. There’s a cost of people covering the work and planning it and the cost to the patients who have work delayed. Services will be safe and let’s hope theres a solution relatively quickly.”

It’s estimated that more than 175,000 patient appointments and procedures had to be cancelled in England during the last junior doctors strike.

The BMA is asking for a pay-rise of 35%, which it says will reverse 15 years of real-term cuts. However, the government says this demand is unaffordable.

The trust says outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected at Harrogate hospital but patients will be contacted if appointments need to be rearranged.

It has asked people who require medical assistance and are considering visiting A&E to contact 111 first unless it’s life-threatening or a severe injury.

Why are the junior doctors striking?

Junior doctors are qualified doctors in clinical training and they make up nearly half of the medical workforce in England.

The British Medical Association says while workload and waiting lists are at record highs, junior doctors’ pay has effectively been cut by more than a quarter since 2008.

A BMA spokesperson said:

“If junior doctors are forced out of the NHS because of poor pay and conditions, the services we all rely on to look after our loved ones will suffer.”

A NHS spokesperson said:

“Our door remains open to constructive conversations, as we have had with other health unions, to find a realistic way forward.”

Harrogate hospital reports improved A&E waiting times

People attending A&E at Harrogate District Hospital are experiencing much shorter waiting times than earlier in the year when some patients were forced to stay at the hospital for 12 hours or more.

The department has been under-pressure throughout the winter due to a higher average number of admissions as well as a fresh wave of covid and flu inpatients that has saw the hospital almost completely full every day.

Harrogate has also been a high number of patients aged over 70 attending A&E compared to nationally.

While attendance figures have returned to near pre-covid levels, many patients have experienced longer-than-usual stays due to the high bed occupancy.

It meant some A&E patients had to stay overnight, which has put further strain on staff who have had to conduct medicine rounds, serve meals, wash patients and conduct ward rounds.

Industrial action by paramedics, nurses and junior doctors has also put pressure on the hospital.

To improve the situation in A&E, the hospital introduced a new streaming model for minor injuries so staff can focus on patients with more serious conditions.

Speaking at a public board meeting of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust last week, chief executive Russell Nightingale said the changes have worked.

Mr Nightingale said the number of people waiting for 12 hours was down to the single figures in March.

He said:

“It’s come down hugely and we’re aiming for zero by August. It’s been driven by improvements in the streaming model. That’s been the primary driver.

“We’re working through some of those sticky admittance issues plus the industrial action.”

As the hospital moves out of its most challenging winter period, next week’s junior doctors strike means there is likely to be some disruption for patients.

The strike is set to take place from 7am on Tuesday, April 11, until 7am on Saturday, April 15.

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of HDFT, told the meeting the hospital has a “robust plan” in place to deal with any disruption should the strike goes ahead as planned.

He said:

“The strike is obviously concerning but I’m confident we’ll have safe services. There’s a cost of people covering the work and planning it and the cost to the patients who have work delayed. Services will be safe and let’s hope theres a solution relatively quickly.”

Harrogate hospital £9m spend on agency staff ‘necessary’, says trust

Hospital bosses in Harrogate have said a £9 million spend on agency staff this year was “necessary”.

Earlier this week, the Stray Ferret reported that the hospital had spent £4.1 million more than its target spend for agencies this year.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust set a target to spend no more than £473,000 each month on agencies — the equivalent of a maximum of £5.7 million over the year.

The figure covers staffing in areas such as nursing, dental and clinical support staff.

In response to the spend, a spokesperson for the trust said:

“When we experience workforce challenges in our clinical and non-clinical services we will use our bank of nursing staff or the services of relevant recruitment agencies to support staff gaps where necessary. This is an issue faced by all NHS foundation trusts across the country.

“The workforce challenges can be for a variety of reasons, such as when we have vacancies due to colleagues leaving the Trust or being promoted, or staff illness.

“It is important that we maintain a safe level of staff to care for our patients, and this can fluctuate due to circumstance – for instance, over the winter months we generally see a rise in patients with respiratory infections, such as the flu or covid-19, and an increase in the number of patients who cannot be discharged. This will lead to the trust opening more beds to meet demand, which in turn requires additional medical and nursing staff to care for those patients. In such instances, we may need to call on agencies, which can be expensive, but enables our services to continue.

“Whilst the current spend on agency staff across our services is higher than we expected, this has been necessary to ensure we can continue to provide the safest and best possible levels of health care service for our community.”

It comes as Alex Sobel, Labour MP for Leeds North West and the party’s shadow environment minister, described Harrogate hospital’s reliance on agencies as “a disgrace”.

He told the House of Commons in February that a constituent called Marjorie Dunn spent just over seven weeks at the hospital last year.

Mr Sobel said:

“In that time she saw NHS nurses leave the service and she was treated predominantly by agency staff — mistreated, I have to say, by agency staff. It is a disgrace.

“When she was eventually moved to a recovery hub run by Leeds City Council she got excellent treatment there.

“She had broken her pelvis and been told she would never walk again, but it was the council physiotherapist who got her up and walking again. Is it not right that we should be supporting local authorities such as Labour-run Leeds to get such facilities as well as the NHS?”

Inquest opens into death of 29-year-old man in Harrogate

An inquest has opened into the death of a 29-year-old man in Harrogate.

Joseph Paul Aaron Morrison, of no fixed abode, died at Harrogate District Hospital on October 30, 2022.

Opening the inquest at Northallerton, Catherine Cundy, coroner for North Yorkshire, said Mr Morrison was “found unresponsive” at an address in Harrogate on the same date.

She said the provisional cause of death was drug related.

Mr Morrison was found with morphine and tramadol in his system.

Ms Cundy adjourned the inquest for a later date.

Junior doctors set for 96-hour strike at Harrogate hospital

Harrogate District Hospital is braced for further disruption as junior doctors prepare for a 96-hour walk-out next month.

The British Medical Association announced members will strike from 7am on Tuesday, April 11, until 7am on Saturday, April 15.

Junior doctors are walking out in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Both the BMA and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association are calling for a 26% pay increase, which they claim will “reverse the steep decline in pay faced by junior doctors since 2008/9”.

Junior doctors at Harrogate hospital formed a large picket line on Wetherby Road as part of a 72-hour walkout on March 13.

Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairs of the BMA junior doctor committee, said:

“It is with disappointment and great frustration that we must announce this new industrial action.

“The government has dragged its feet at every opportunity. It has not presented any credible offer and is refusing to accept that there is any case for pay restoration, describing our central ask as ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unreasonable’.

“Even yesterday they continued to add new unacceptable preconditions to talks instead of getting on and trying to find a resolution.”

A statement from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We are working hard to ensure there is minimal disruption to patient care and that emergency services continue to operate as normal.

“We are currently developing our plans for the propose action and its impact on our services, patients or staff.

“Outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected. Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority. We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strikes, and key services will continue to operate.”

You can read the full statement on the trust’s website here.

Harrogate hospital trust spends £9m on agency staff

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has spent £9 million on agency staff costs this year.

The figure covers staffing in areas such as nursing, dental and clinical support staff.

The trust set a target to spend no more than £473,000 each month on agencies — the equivalent of a maximum of £5.7 million over the year.

However, according to board papers, the trust has spent £9.8 million on agency staff – £4.1 million more than its target spend for the year.

In January alone, the hospital spent more than £1 million on agency staff.

HDFT agency staff spending per month. Table: HDFT.

It comes as Alex Sobel, Labour MP for Leeds North West and the party’s shadow environment minister, described Harrogate hospital’s reliance on agencies as “a disgrace”.

He told the House of Commons last month that a constituent called Marjorie Dunn spent just over seven weeks at the hospital last year.

Mr Sobel said:

“In that time she saw NHS nurses leave the service and she was treated predominantly by agency staff — mistreated, I have to say, by agency staff. It is a disgrace.

“When she was eventually moved to a recovery hub run by Leeds City Council she got excellent treatment there.

“She had broken her pelvis and been told she would never walk again, but it was the council physiotherapist who got her up and walking again. Is it not right that we should be supporting local authorities such as Labour-run Leeds to get such facilities as well as the NHS?”

The Stray Ferret has approached Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust for comment.

A spokesperson said previously:

“We pride ourselves on providing the best possible standards of care for our patients, wherever that care may be being delivered. On the rare occasions when this has fallen below our expectations or those of our patients, we have procedures in place to identify this and ensure we continuously improve.

“Workforce challenges in the NHS are well documented. As a trust, we monitor recruitment, retention, turnover and staff wellbeing closely and have a bank of the trust’s own nursing staff, who are available to support where we have short- term absence. These staff are familiar with Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and our standards of care.

“On occasion, we do need to use the services of agencies to support nursing gaps, however we expect all staff working at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust to provide the same standards of care for our patients, and we will address this if it is found not to be the case.”

12 local schools raise £6,000 at concert in Harrogate

Twelve primary schools raised about £6,000 for cancer care by performing a charity concert at the Royal Hall in Harrogate.

A total of 258 pupils took to the stage for the sold out concert, which has been held annually since 2015 except for covid.

Sarah Bassitt, who will retire as headteacher of Killinghall Church of England Primary School at the end of the year, was the main organiser of the event.

Funds raised from Friday’s show will go to the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre at Harrogate District Hospital, which provides cancer treatment.

Ms Bassitt said the raffle raised about £1,000 and the overall tally was expected to exceed £6,000.

“This will mean that over the time that we have been doing the concert we will have raised over £25,000 for local charities.

“It was an amazing evening that was highly appreciated and praised by parents.”

The show included choirs, a wind band, a ukulele group, recorders and dancers.

The finale saw all the children on stage together sing two songs conducted by Helen Potter

Schools taking part were:

Admiral Long and Birstwith CE Primary Schools

Bishop Monkton CE Primary School

Dacre Braithwaite CE Primary School

Hampsthwaite CE Primary School

The Federation of Kettlesing, Felliscliffe, Beckwithshaw & Ripley

Killinghall CE Primary School

The Upper Nidderdale Federation of Schools

Inspectors says Harrogate hospital maternity services ‘requires improvement’

Health inspectors have rated Harrogate District Hospital’s maternity services as ‘requires improvement’.

The Care Quality Commission, which inspects hospitals and health services, published its verdict in a report on Friday after an inspection in November 2022.

The CQC visited the hospital as part of a national inspection of maternity services.

Harrogate District Hospital was previously rated ‘good’ in a 2016 inspection that looked at maternity services and gynaecology. This latest report was the first time maternity services were rated as standalone services.

The four possible outcomes are ‘outstanding’. ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’.

Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said it was “difficult to understand” the change in the rating.

The CQC report said “compliance with appropriate safeguarding, life support training and medicines did not meet targets” although it acknowledged “there was a plan in place to recover this position”.

It added that the number of medical staff on hand “were not always sufficient” and there was no clear system in place to “to identify prioritise risks to women in the maternity assessment area”.

Regular checks on life saving equipment “were not always completed”, the report said.

Inspectors said staff at the service “did not always receive and keep up to date” with mandatory training.

However, the CQC did find the service had enough midwifery staff to care for women and that staff worked well together.

It added:

“Staff had training in key skills, and worked well together for the benefit of women, understood how to protect women from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well.

“Staff assessed risks to women in most areas, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.”

‘Not a fair reflection’

In response to the report, Mr Coulter said he did not feel that the findings in the report were a reflection of the service at the hospital.

He said:

“With such positive findings in the CQC report it is difficult to understand the resultant rating change and we do not feel it is a fair reflection of the maternity service we provide. The report describes a maternity unit which is fully staffed, with a positive culture, with staff that are competent, listen to women and are always seeking to improve.

“We are proud of our team for the dedication, professionalism and caring attitude that they show each day whilst supporting those in our care. We are disappointed the rating applied to the service overall and for the safe domain does not appear to reflect the findings in the report.

“Whatever the rating in this report, our response will be to focus on learning and improvement, as it is for any external or internal service review.

“As part of this focus on continually improving our services, we prioritise listening and learning to ensure we can provide the high quality care that our patients deserve. Listening to people who use our maternity services is so important, as we completely understand that peoples’ experience can differ.

“This is why, in addition to our own improvement work, we work in partnership with our Maternity Voices Partnership who provide another valuable way for us to hear the needs of those using our services.”

Call for parents to share maternity experiences in Harrogate district

A group of volunteers is calling for parents to share their experiences of maternity services across the Harrogate district.

Harrogate Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) is an independent group of volunteers aiming to use feedback from parents to ensure maternity services are the best they can be.

From community midwifery to the hospital’s delivery suite and postnatal care at home, the MVP wants to hear from anyone who has experienced the maternity services provided through Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

The group’s chair, Jen Baldry, took up the role in early 2022. She said:

“I’ve had three children in Harrogate and I think I’ve had really positive experiences throughout my maternity journeys. However, I always think there’s room for improvement.

“I have a passion for developing local maternity services, in particular focusing on personalised care and informed choice.

“I had a baby during covid so that massively impacted me wanting to do this role and give my experience of that, compared to having two before covid.”

The MVP holds regular coffee mornings around which any parents are welcome to drop in to. They offer space for children to play while the parents can chat to each other, MVP volunteers and maternity professionals about their experiences.

There are also regular, free information sessions, such as one next Friday evening on the biomechanics of birth, led by a hypnobirthing teacher and a student midwife. It will cover how different positions and movements can be used during labour and childbirth.

Feedback over the last year has seen the MVP work with maternity professionals to look at the language they use, the birthing environment at the hospital, and delivering personalised care to suit each person going through pregnancy and birth.

As well as giving feedback, people who have experience of maternity care in Harrogate are always welcomed as volunteers with the MVP. Jen said:

“We have over 40 active volunteers. I ask everyone for one to two hours a month, and that could be for reviewing leaflets or coming to a coffee morning, or even going in to the unit for a ’15 steps’ review, when we look at what the experience is like for someone arriving there.

“Anybody who has had experience with maternity services or worked in a field related to maternity can join us.”

Pilot project

While the MVP will operate long term with all parents, at the moment it is working on a pilot project with the maternity department in Harrogate.

Across the NHS, midwives will soon be required to undertake more training each year. Harrogate’s involvement in the pilot project will see it help to produce training based on feedback from people using its services.

The MVP is helping to find parents to take part and is particularly seeking those who have experienced pregnancies with twins and multiples, surrogacy, their child being cared for on the special care baby unit, or giving birth outside NHS guidance.

It also wants to hear from anyone from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who has been cared by for through Harrogate’s maternity services.

Two focus group events are being held at the end of March – one online and one in person in Harrogate – to gather feedback from those parents.

Jen said:

“The biggest challenge for the MVP is hearing the voices of people who don’t necessarily speak up.

“People tend to get in touch if they’ve had an amazing experience or a really bad experience. We don’t often hear from that middle ground, where it was fine, but there are some areas that could be improved.

“All those tweaks, we’re here to help with. Was there anything that would have made it even better?

“We also want to ensure we represent everybody in the community, from all different types of background – anybody who has had an experience of maternity services.”

For details of upcoming events, visit the MVP Facebook page.

To contact Harrogate MVP, or give feedback on your experiences of maternity services, visit its website.

Junior doctors begin strike at Harrogate District Hospital

Junior doctors formed a large picket line on Wetherby Road in Harrogate this morning as a 72-hour strike got underway.

Up to 61,000 junior or trainee doctors began a walkout at 7am today in a dispute over pay.

Many cars sounded their horns in support of those taking part in today’s action on Wetherby Road, close to Harrogate District Hospital.

The British Medical Association and Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association have defied calls from Health Secretary Steve Barclay to call off the strike.

They are calling for a 26% pay increase to “reverse the steep decline in pay faced by junior doctors since 2008/9”, according to the BMA.

A statement on Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust‘s website says the strike will impact services to patients. It says:

“Outpatients appointments and planned activity may be affected.

“Patients should continue to attend appointments as planned unless contacted to reschedule. We will be re-arranging any postponed appointments as a priority.

“We appreciate this situation is frustrating for patients affected and apologise for any inconvenience caused.

“Nobody should put off seeking urgent or emergency care during the strikes, and key services will continue to operate.”

The full statement is here.

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Why are the junior doctors striking?

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‘Not a fair reflection’

Pilot project

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