Tom Tate has a personal reason for installing a defibrillator at the Ripon garden centre and nursery that bears his family’s name,
The family-run business, which was founded by Fred and Frank Tate more than 80 years ago, faced a worrying time when Tom’s son Freddie — the newest member of the dynasty — was diagnosed with a heart condition after he was born at Harrogate District Hospital two years ago.
Tom told the Stray Ferret:
“It was an anxious time for his mum Sarah, myself and all the family, but the doctors sorted him out and he is a healthy and happy little boy.”
Freddie Tate carrying out an inspection of the family-owned garden centre on his miniature John Deere Gator. Picture: F. Tate & Sons
He added:
“With this experience, it made me realise that heart issues can affect anybody, from new born babies to the elderly and with the 150,000 plus visitors that we welcome here each year, installing a defibrillator made a lot of sense.
“We have people who come to buy flowers. plants and ornaments for their gardens, or to dine in our Olive Tree restaurant and in addition to this, thousands come in all weathers to the annual charity tractor events that we stage”
Tom’s mum Jayne, pointed out:
“With the newly-installed defibrillator we are equipped to look after hearts as well as flowers and we hope that this gives added peace of mind to people who visit us.”
Tates garden centre is the 24th location in Ripon and the surrounding area to install a defibrillator. All other locations can be found be clicking on this link to the Defibs Ripon Facebook page.
Main picture: Tom Tate with his mum Jayne next to the newly-installed defibrillator
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A toaster fire at Harrogate District Hospital proved to be just the start of an incident-packed day for local firefighters yesterday.
Crews from Harrogate and Knaresborough were called to the hospital on Lancaster Park Road at 8am.
North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service‘s incident report said:
“The fire originated in an industrial rotating toaster, and caused 25% fire damage to the kitchen, and light smoke logging to a communal area.”
It proved to be the first of several call-outs yesterday.
Teen rescued from car
At 11.07am, firefighters from Boroughbridge and Ripon rushed to a single vehicle car crash at Skelton Road in Boroughbridge where a Peugout 206 had careered off the road.
Crews used an electric saw to get into the vehicle through the windscreen and free a female driver. who was described as “approximately 17” in the incident report. It added:
“The female was uninjured and left in the care of the air ambulance service.”
Two-car crash on A1
The A1 at Boroughbridge
At 12.14pm, crews from Ripon, Boroughbridge and Northallerton responded to reports of a Hyundai and an Audi colliding between junctions 48 and 49 on the northbound A1(M).
The incident report said:
“All occupants of the vehicles were out on arrival. The female driver of the Hyundai, aged approximately 40s, suffered superficial injuries only.
“The male driver, and female passenger of the Audi, both aged approximately 50s, were uninjured. Crews used a turfer winch to remove the vehicles to a safe location.”
Barn fire in Spofforth
At 1.59pm, Harrogate firefighters were back out again. This time they were joined by a crew from Wetherby to a barn fire at Park Lane in Spofforth.
Water bowsers from Tadcaster and Boroughbridge also responded.
The incident report said the barn, which measured about 40 metres by 20 metres, contained straw and the incident was still ongoing by late afternoon.
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‘Beeping’ barriers to be removed by September at Harrogate hospital
A new “beeping” sound coming from a car park barrier will be removed in the next few weeks, Harrogate Hospital has said.
A resident contacted the Stray Ferret to say the noise, which activates every time the barrier at the entrance is used, was causing a nuisance.
David Spain, who lives around 100m from the hospital, said the beeping sound had originally been present when the barrier was first installed many years ago.
After residents complained about the noise, it was switched off. However, the barrier was recently repaired and, when switched back on, the beeping had returned.
He said:
“With my doors and windows closed, I can hear it clearly from about 6am when people start coming to work.
“Being retired and not having to get up at that time, I don’t really want to be woken by it. It’s not going to shatter any windows, but it is irritating.
“It’s when it goes up that it beeps. When it comes down, it doesn’t beep, which seems strange.”
Mr Spain said he had contacted the hospital to raise the issue when it started around 10 days ago, but had no response.
However, he said he was still pleased to live close to the hospital, which had treated him in an emergency, adding:
“They saved my life – I’ve got no beef with the hospital. I would be dead if it weren’t for them.”
A spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT), which runs the hospital, said:
“The Trust holds a duty of care for the safety of our patients, visitors and colleagues. Our barriers at the main visitor car park at Harrogate District Hospital are fitted with an alert noise with a set volume as a safety measure to ensure we warn and protect anyone in the vicinity of them.
“This is to ensure that we adhere to our health and safety commitments of keeping our patients, visitors and colleagues from harm and injury.”
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Parking at the hospital has been under review for some time, in a bid to reduce the amount of queuing onto the road at peak times.
HDFT announced earlier this year that a new system would be introduced later this year.
The spokesperson today confirmed this, adding:
Harrogate knee surgeon’s breakthrough gains national interest“We have recognised that improvements are required to our car parking provision and we are implementing a new car parking management solution across the hospital site that will be in place by September 2023.
“This new car parking system will have number plate recognition which will replace the current barrier system, ensuring no further warning noises are necessary.”
A digital report developed by a Harrogate surgeon is attracting national interest.
Patients undergoing knee surgery at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust are now able to benefit from a bespoke digital report, designed to improve understanding of their treatment and reduce any unnecessary outpatient appointments.
The creation of the report comes after nearly 25% of knee arthroscopy patients claimed they were not alert enough to discuss their surgery in the post-operation period.
Three quarters of those surveyed also claimed they were unable to recall post-operation instructions, such as weight bearing advice, meaning over half of the patients required further appointments to aid their understanding.
Dave Duffy, a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at HDFT, used the Arthrex Synergy Surgeon app to devise a video that walks patients through the procedure step-by-step, as well as an audio explanation to ensure full accessibility and understanding of the treatment.
The patient is also provided with an in-depth explanation of the next steps in their recovery, from bandaging wounds to appropriate exercises.
Since the introduction of Mr Duffy’s solution only 15% of patients that received the digital report felt they needed further appointments.
He said:
“The report puts patients’ minds at ease, provides answers to many of their questions, and in many cases removes the need for further appointments or written communications, allowing the clinician to spend additional time helping other patients.
Transforming outpatient services remains a key part of the NHS Long Term Plan, with Mr Duffy’s digital report playing an increasingly significant role in doing so.
He added:
“We have received lots of enquiries about the innovation from other partners in the NHS and we are keen to share our learning to scale up the innovation for the benefits of patients.”
Dr Jacqueline Andrews, medical director and executive lead for digital at HDFT said:
“Our trust’s strategy puts healthcare innovation at the heart of everything we do. Our purpose is to improve the health and wellbeing of our patients, children and communities, and digital transformation plays an important role in this.
“We want to invest in digital tools and services which makes it easier to provide the best quality, safest care and improves the experience for our patients. As a relatively small trust we have the ability to be agile when it comes to innovation, rapidly piloting new innovations and gaining feedback fast, for the benefits of healthcare innovation businesses and the NHS.”
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Harrogate hospital appointments rearranged after CT scanner breakdown
Harrogate hospital has been forced to rearrange 76 scan appointments after one of its CT scanners broke down.
Patients due appointments this past week were either told their scans were rearranged or referred to Leeds.
Officials at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said the scanner had “a number of breakdowns” over the last four weeks, each of which left it non-operational for up to two days.
CT scans create detailed images of inside the body which can identify issues such as tumours.
In total, 76 patients had their non-urgent appointments rearranged and 41 who required urgent scans were sent to Leeds.
Hospital managers say the scanner has since been repaired and will be replaced in June.
A spokesperson for the hospital trust said:
“Over the last four weeks, one of the machines has experienced a number of breakdowns, each lasting one or two days. This has unfortunately meant that some non-urgent scans have needed to be re-arranged, which we have done so as a priority.
“The health and safety of our patients is our primary concern and those people needing urgent scans during the periods in which our CT scanner was not working, were transferred to hospitals in Leeds to ensure their scan could take place.
“The scanner has now been repaired. By early June, a new CT scanner will be installed at Harrogate District Hospital, which will work alongside our other CT scanners, ensuring we have additional resilience in the future.
“We are committed to providing the best possible healthcare service for our community and over the next few years, we are investing around £3 million in our imaging department to provide new digital x-ray and CT scanners. This will further improve on the service we provide and significantly reduce waiting times for patients.”
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Hard up Harrogate hospital staff sell back 2,000 days off in six months
Staff at Harrogate District Hospital sold back almost 2,000 days off that they were entitled to in just six months, figures reveal.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, introduced a policy last year where staff could ‘sell’ time off they had accrued back to the trust in order to receive extra money in their pay packets.
It was hoped the move would ease the financial burden that many staff have been under throughout winter as the cost-of-living crisis deepened.
At the time, chief executive Jonathan Coulter even said the finances of some people working for the trust were putting them under more stress than the benefit of having a holiday.
The policy, which has now closed, was capped at a maximum of five days off sold per employee.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service sent a freedom of information request to the trust, which employs around 3,500 people, asking how many staff had taken the trust up on its offer.
The figures show that between September 2022 and March 2023, 492 employees sold back 14,480 hours.
If this were divided into seven-and-a-half hour shifts, it equates to around 1,800 individual days off sold.
Since the policy was introduced in September, members of health unions have gone on strike over low pay, which they argue is compromising patient safety and leading to an exodus of trained professionals from the NHS.
Ben Kirkham, GMB Union regional organiser, said the move by the trust to let staff sell days off is exacerbating staff burnout and sickness. He added:
“The NHS is suffering from chronic underfunding and a major crisis in staffing, resulting in huge appointment and operation back logs.
“For both staff and patients its vital that the NHS is funded properly and that means urgent investment.”
A Royal College of Nursing spokesperson said:
“RCN members are caught between twin crises. The cost-of-living crisis in which selling annual leave is one method of making ends meet and the staffing crisis. Nursing staff are already required to work significant levels of unpaid overtime to support increasingly unsafe levels of staffing across many health and care settings.”
‘Help staff with their money worries’
A Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said:
Interim leader of Harrogate hospital given permanent role“Last year, as a consequence of the cost of living crisis and the pressures faced by our staff due to spiralling day-to-day costs, we introduced a cost of living package providing a wide range of support to help colleagues who were struggling.
“The support included financial aid in the form of a hardship grant, general help, advice and resources on financial and mental wellbeing, and for the first time, the opportunity for staff to sell up to five days of their holiday entitlement during 2022/23 financial year.
“Whilst we encourage colleagues to take their annual leave as it enables our minds and bodies to rest and recuperate, we felt that the option for staff to sell some of their annual leave would be appreciated as it would provide a further opportunity to help them with their money worries.
“The scheme ran until the end of March this year and we were pleased to support 492 colleagues who chose to sell some of their annual leave.
“Our staff are our greatest asset and it is important that we support them in these challenging times. Our range of support for staff continues to develop and we will look at introducing further means of support for our staff in the future.”
The interim chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has been appointed to the post permanently, the hospital has announced.
Jonathan Coulter has held the post on a temporary basis previous chief executive Steve Russell went on secondment as national director for vaccines and screening with NHS England last February.
His move was made permanent in December, after which HDFT began recruiting nationally for a replacement. HDFT chair Sarah Armstrong said:
“I am delighted Jonathan has been appointed to the role of chief executive and I know he will lead the organisation with care, dedication and commitment.
“This is an exciting time for our trust. We are committed to providing the best possible level of healthcare for our community and we have a number of exciting projects over the next few years which will further improve on the high quality health and wellbeing service we provide.
“Jonathan’s knowledge and experience will be invaluable in driving these projects forward and I am very much looking forward to working closely with him in the future.”
Mr Coulter has worked in the NHS for more than 30 years, of which 20 have been as a director. He became finance director at HDFT in March 2006 before being appointed deputy chief executive four years later.
He said:
“I am delighted to have been appointed permanently into the role of chief executive.
“HDFT is a brilliant organisation with wonderful people. It is very humbling to be in a position to support all of our fantastic colleagues to be the best that they can be, and continue to do what we try to do every day, which is to help and support the people who need us.”
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Harrogate hospital food rated worst in country by patients
Hospital food in Harrogate is the worst in the country, according to patients.
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust received the lowest rating of all the hospital trusts assessed in the NHS survey.
Patients awarded the trust, which runs Harrogate District Hospital, 72% for food quality.
The next lowest was Mid-Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust with 74%, closely followed by York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Private provider Bupa rated the highest with 100%.
NHS Digital published the figures as part of its 2022 Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment programme.
PLACE assessments are an annual appraisal of the non-clinical aspects of NHS and independent/private healthcare settings.
Harrogate fared better on cleanliness, ranking 53rd of the 222 organisations with a score of 99.49%.
But it was a lowly 192nd on privacy, dignity and wellbeing with a score of 81%.
Hospital issues apology
A Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said:
“We strive to provide the best possible levels of service for those people in our care and we are extremely disappointed that we were unable to meet the expectations of our patients when the assessment took place.
“We would like to apologise to anyone who has been dissatisfied by the service we provided.
“It is important that we learn lessons from these findings as food is an important part of a patient’s hospital experience. The quality of food provided to our patients has always been high, but there is the opportunity to improve on the levels of service.
“We take such assessments extremely seriously and have already started to make improvements to address the concerns that have been raised.”
“These improvements have already had a significant impact and we will continue to make further changes to ensure we are meeting our patients’ expectations.”
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Harrogate district amateur dramatic group stripped down and raised £12,000
A Harrogate district amateur dramatic group who bared all in a production of Calendar Girls raised £12,000 for three cancer charities.
The Kirkby Overblow Dramatic Society performed its own version of the Tim Firth film late last year.
All proceeds from the play have been donated to the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre at Harrogate District Hospital, Maggie’s Yorkshire and Blood Cancer UK – each of which received £4,000.
The sell-out show was “the most successful charitable performance we have produced”, according to the chairman.
The 1999 film is based on a true story of how Rylstone and District Women’s Institute, near Skipton, posed for a nude calendar to raise money for leukaemia cancer.
The cast also took part in their very own nude photoshoot – posing strategically at local landmarks in the village.
Photo: Annette Fishburn Photography
Claire Mackenzie, director of the production, said:
“When I was asked to choose a play which we could put on, I was thinking more about what we could take off, this way it would be an attention grabber…and it worked, thanks to the commitment and bravado of all the cast and crew”.
Cast and crew of Calendar Girls handing over the cheque donations to three cancer charities.
Regional fundraising members for the charities were on hand to accept the money raised by the dramatic society.
Fiona Gavaghan, of Macmillan Cancer Support, said:
“Huge thanks and congratulations go to the KODS team for raising this astounding amount.
“What they have done will change the lives of hundreds of cancer sufferers and their families throughout Yorkshire”.
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Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has paid a six-figure sum to a patient who suffered a stoke and cardiac arrest after an operation, leaving him severely disabled.
The trust and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust were found jointly responsible for the treatment of the 74-year-old patient, who suffered a minor stroke in January 2016.
Having developed some slurring of speech and a headache, he was taken to Harrogate District Hospital by ambulance, where he was admitted to the stroke unit and underwent a CT scan of the head.
As part of the legal case against the two trusts, solicitors acting on behalf of the man made several allegations of negligence. It was alleged imaging was wrongly reported and surgery was unnecessarily performed.
During the surgery the patient suffered a stroke and later a cardiac arrest from which he was successfully resuscitated. He was left severely disabled and brain damaged.
Solicitor Elizabeth Maliakal, a specialist in medical negligence claims at Hudgell Solicitors, led the legal case on behalf of the patient, whose daughter was appointed his deputy by the Court of Protection to manage her father’s affairs.
Ms Maliakal alleged the operation had been carried out without the patient or his family being fully informed of the risks involved, and without being informed that the benefits of surgery were small. She said the case centred on two key aspects of care and treatment:
“Firstly, there was no need for surgical intervention and, had my client not undergone surgery, he would have avoided the stroke which occurred during surgery and the later cardiac arrest.
“Secondly, he was inadequately consented over the decision to operate and, given doubts about his mental capacity to consent, his family were not consulted over the decision either.
“Had an appropriate discussion taken place regarding the relative risks and benefits, neither my client nor his family would have consented.
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Ms Maliakal (pictured above) added:
“Whilst our medical experts felt that he may well have gone on to suffer further strokes in the near future, had he not undergone the surgery, they were of the opinion that he would not have been left as profoundly disabled as he is now.
“He has been left with a catastrophic injury. He is paralysed, has little vision in his right eye and reduced vision in his left eye. He is unable to talk, he is doubly incontinent, needs to be fed through a tube and requires hoists to be moved. He now lives permanently in a nursing home.”
‘Denied liability’
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust agreed a six-figure sum for damages. The precise amount has not been revealed.
The compensation agreed covers the cost of future care, nursing home fees, private medical treatment, medication expenses and aids and equipment.
Mrs Maliakal added:
“This was a hard fought case. Initially both trusts denied liability and it was only after court proceedings were commenced that settlement discussions took place. The negligent treatment left my client severely disabled, and in need of round the clock care, which could and should have been avoided.
“As part of our investigations into the case we instructed independent medical experts, including a vascular surgeon, a stroke physician and neuroradiologist. The Trusts agreed to compensate
A joint statement for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“The trusts sincerely regret the difficulties experienced by the claimant and are pleased to have been able to reach an amicable compromise of his claim. The trusts wish the claimant and his family well for the future.”