Bradford hospitals 'among worst in UK' says new report

Bradford Royal Infirmary Bradford Royal Infirmary

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been ranked among the worst in the country in the first NHS league tables for hospitals, published yesterday.

But Airedale NHS Foundation Trust featured in the top 25 per cent and was ranked 24th in the list of 147 trusts compiled after a study by MHP Health Mandate, which looked at the issues deemed most important to patients – including a good hospital experience, operation waiting times and infection rates.

The Quality At A Glance report, by the specialist health policy and communications consultancy, gives each trust a quality score based on each issue and comes as a Government-commissioned review on the use of Ofsted-style aggregate quality ratings for NHS providers is due at the end of this month.

The Bradford Trust, which runs Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital, was placed at 111 in the list, in the bottom 25 per cent, and given a score of 4.38.

It scored in the lowest quarter for the number of patients who said they got better after their operations, at 68 per cent, and the number of operations cancelled at the last minute, at 0.95 per cent.

However, it was praised for the fact that no patients had to share a sleeping area or bathroom with someone of the opposite sex and that only 18.9 per cent had to wait longer than 18 weeks for admitted treatment between June and November 2012.

The report also revealed that 3.55 out of five members of staff said they would recommend the hospital to their friends and family, according to data from a Care Quality Commission staff survey.

The trust disputed a figure for the number of patient complaints, which will have had an impact on its overall score.

A spokesman said: “We acknowledge there are some areas in this report where we have done well and other sections where we don’t score as highly as we would like.

“It is encouraging that a high proportion of staff would recommend our hospitals to their friends and family. We continuously use the responses from such surveys, combined with patient feedback from our own regular surveys, to make improvements to our service.”

Airedale’s trust, which runs Airedale Hospital, was given an overall score of 6.62 and featured in the top 25 per cent of trusts in the country for categories, including the number of written patient complaints, at 14 per cent, and a zero MRSA rate between April 2011 and March 2012.

It did, however, feature in the bottom 25 per cent of trusts for the number of incidents of harm reported, with 7.94 incidents reported per 100 admissions between October 2011 and March 2012.

Dr Andrew Catto, executive medical director and consultant physician, said: “We work very hard to maintain our low infections rates and recognition of this in the report will be a boost to staff who work diligently day in, day out to achieve this. It is also welcome to see that the majority of our patients are not kept waiting for their operations.

“However, the figure reported for ‘risk of being harmed’ can be misunderstood. Organisations that report more incidents tend to have a stronger reporting and more effective patient safety culture where even incidents which result in no harm to patients are reported – 97.7 per cent of the patient safety incidents reported at Airedale were no or low harm.

“At Airedale, patient safety is one of our top priorities and this report confirms that.”

Mike Birtwistle, managing director of MHP Health Mandate, said: “Quality in health is complex and there is a strong case for bringing information together to enable an at-a-glance assessment of a trust’s performance.

“Every board of every hospital should be looking at this at every meeting. It picks up the specifics that matter most to the public, providing a barometer of how hospitals are performing.

“We have seen what happens when people wait for patients to be harmed before taking action to improve the quality of care. We need to use much more sensitive and relevant measures of quality. The Government needs to provide the resources to encourage this.”

Comments(26)

Apollo says...
7:16am Wed 13 Mar 13

Third World hospitals serving a Third World population. Hardly a surprise.

old pecker says...
7:32am Wed 13 Mar 13

its only telling us what we knew already

schroeder says...
8:40am Wed 13 Mar 13

Apollo wrote:
Third World hospitals serving a Third World population. Hardly a surprise.
As a Third World Activist, who has recently come back from Uganda where around 100 thousand men,women and children suffer from TB each year, and tens of thousands of them will die of this highly curable and easily prevented disease because of lack of vaccination, medicine and hospital care.... Shut up.

Apollo says...
8:55am Wed 13 Mar 13

schroeder wrote:
Apollo wrote: Third World hospitals serving a Third World population. Hardly a surprise.
As a Third World Activist, who has recently come back from Uganda where around 100 thousand men,women and children suffer from TB each year, and tens of thousands of them will die of this highly curable and easily prevented disease because of lack of vaccination, medicine and hospital care.... Shut up.
TB is on the rise in this country and vaccination take up levels are falling. It may not be as bad as Uganda but the point is that Bradford hospitals are failing and many patients will be presenting with basic Third World illnesses.

I do not appreciate being told to shut up just because you have been to Uganda. I do not care about Uganda. I do care about Bradford.

username_username says...
9:26am Wed 13 Mar 13

And in other news . . . Bradford hospitals 'among best in UK' says Dr Foster.

More poorly-researched and sloppy reporting from the T&A. The paper has missed the point completely and obviously hasn't bothered reading the report. Always quick to throw the mud for a headline and last to defend the public services of Bradford.

loftyme says...
10:38am Wed 13 Mar 13

schroeder wrote:
Apollo wrote:
Third World hospitals serving a Third World population. Hardly a surprise.
As a Third World Activist, who has recently come back from Uganda where around 100 thousand men,women and children suffer from TB each year, and tens of thousands of them will die of this highly curable and easily prevented disease because of lack of vaccination, medicine and hospital care.... Shut up.
What the hell has Uganda got to do with the state of BRI !!, shame about the poverty there, but the government is too corrupt, should have stayed a british colony, but they wanted independance, continuos civil wars, Amin's regime killed approx 300,000 people in the 70's, the country will NEVER change, anyway, yes the BRI is a bad place to be if your poorly, (speaking from experience).

Joedavid says...
10:49am Wed 13 Mar 13

schroeder wrote:
Apollo wrote:
Third World hospitals serving a Third World population. Hardly a surprise.
As a Third World Activist, who has recently come back from Uganda where around 100 thousand men,women and children suffer from TB each year, and tens of thousands of them will die of this highly curable and easily prevented disease because of lack of vaccination, medicine and hospital care.... Shut up.
About 50 years ago TB was more or less stamped out here, now it is back and rising I read.

Joedavid says...
10:50am Wed 13 Mar 13

Use NHS Choices and use a different hospital for your treatment and consultation.

ertnec says...
11:17am Wed 13 Mar 13

what is the point of these money wasting reports, we all know if you have ever been in hospital or have had relatives stoping how different one ward can be from another. Everything in the Hospitals need to be improved "NO ONE IS PERFECT" especially the NHS. The staff and workers do the best job possible especially with the pressure there under from bossess and government cuts, but most of all from so called relatives who in many cases don't know what there talking about YES we all care about our families in Hospital but come on give them a Bloody Break. If theres a problem speak to someone, I have been in many times when relatives start abusing the staff IT'S NOT ON.

Albion. says...
11:35am Wed 13 Mar 13

My frequent hospital visits have convinced me that I get excellent service from the medical staff. BRI has noticeably improved in the areas of cleanliness and general tidiness, but there is still room for improvement. The loss of my medical notes, on two occasions, is certainly a concern though.

alfierowe says...
11:47am Wed 13 Mar 13

if anyone has any complaints regarding the n.s.h.may i suggest they go private!! i've heard bupa is good!!

flapper1 says...
11:57am Wed 13 Mar 13

My daughter recently spent 9 weeks in BRI and i can honestly say that the treatment she received was 1st class and every member of staff was absolutely fantastic.These people actually never stop for the whole shift.The only thing that lets it down is some of the patients who are a absolute disgrace and i was embarrased for them.If this is a example of what lives in bradford well god help us.

bhuna156 says...
1:06pm Wed 13 Mar 13

It's not surprising that bussier hospitals are lower down on the list, but I've never had a bad experience at the BRI whenever myself or family members have been there. The doctors and staff are always friendly and helpful, and the treatment is always spot on.
Just a lot of moaners questioned I reckon..

Not so simple says...
1:20pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Next month another survey will suggest hat the hospital is now ranked in the top ten

Stupid surveys.

The BRI is still rather good, however the service standard( from my experience) is falling and somewhat failing altogether.

The people to point the finger at are not the hospital staff or the population, I would point my fingers at the management of the hospital. Poor direction leads to poor services.

I wouldn't go saying its a third world hospital just yet as we are very lucky not to live in a third world country. Even the poor of England can give the middle classes of the third world a good run for their money!

basil fawlty says...
1:45pm Wed 13 Mar 13

I get the impression that the BRI provides inconsistent standards from ward to ward. Whilst to some extent this may be down to poor management and lack of motivation and quality of individuals, I suspect that it is more to do with difficulties associated with the age of the hospital and its outdated design.

YubYub says...
2:05pm Wed 13 Mar 13

TB was one of the reasons why spitting in the street was made an offence. Given the fact this now seems to have been overlooked (or rescinded) and the amount of visitors to the country who will not have been given TB vaccines it doesn't surprise me that there's a TB increase.

The Hoffster says...
4:02pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Apollo wrote:
Third World hospitals serving a Third World population. Hardly a surprise.
Islamophobe.

June Oh says...
4:20pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Service at A&E is disgracefull was that in the report?

Prisoner Cell Block A says...
4:32pm Wed 13 Mar 13

alfierowe wrote:
if anyone has any complaints regarding the n.s.h.may i suggest they go private!! i've heard bupa is good!!
Yes, certainly, can I have the portion of taxes and NI I currently pay for the poor service received from many areas of the NHS to put towards my private healthcare please?

Actually this would go to my beer and footy fund as I already have private healthcare but seeing as you raised the point it is worth discussing. Why can't we opt out?

collos25 says...
8:38pm Wed 13 Mar 13

I have been in and out of the hospital a few times for my operations on my cancer and have had treatment at both St Lukes and the BRI I can only say that the treatment was first class as were the staff.It was not the most comfortable of stays due to my illness and operations but the staff were impecable.I have been in the best in Germany the hospitals were slightly better but the treatment was no better and the doctors surgeries are years behind the UK and after treatment almost non existant.Don´t believe all that you are told about other countries being better.

COATSFORGOALPOSTS says...
9:01pm Wed 13 Mar 13

The following BRI scoring of an overall average of 5.5 out of 10 is my personal view from experience, having been admitted as walking wounded with chest pains 04/03/2013 @ 19:30

Admission to A&E and wired up immediately:

9 out of 10

19:45 The next stage, still within A&E Ward area consisted of very poor updates, an interim transfer to X-Ray by a Porter who at point of transfer muttered to a Nurse "I don’t care how long they have to wait it will get done when it gets done" I'm guessing his being disgruntled was just lashing out at the NHS, but very unprofessional. Then back to A&E, a total wait of approx 7 hours before being transferred:

2 out of 10.

03:00 Transfer to Ward 4, wheeled into a cubicle and left with no meet, greet or explanation whilst the Nurses and Doctors where busy doing what they do, which, from a very tired onlookers view seemed very industrious but ineffective (a symptom of not having been given an understanding of expectation) Again a poor level of timely updates (unless prompted by us) with the exception of the odd blood sample being taken, however during the 3 hour waiting an update was offered in regard they were unable to confirm whether it was a Heart Attack and would need to wait until the Lab opened at 09:00 hours and completed their tests. During the 3 hour wait there was another patient who at the top of his voice for about 2 hours was having a conversation in English and Pakistani dialect with an imaginary person and you can imagine when you are unwell and tired how distressing this can be. Rather than the staff proactively asking him to stop I had to ask the staff to have a word, unfortunately when they did he was even louder, irate and unreasonably rude to them, demanding attention and action with total disregard and complete ignorance of consideration to the other patients.

2 out of 10

07:00 Eventual transfer to the Coronary Cardiac Unit Ward 22 consisting of a much improved Customer experience, meet and greet with consistent attention to my wellbeing, regular timely updates, pre op consultations, Heart op procedure, post op consultations and ongoing care and discharge. My only criticism, the time from being told I could be discharged and the time I actually left must’ve been 5 or 6 hours and in that time my bed could have been released earlier meaning someone waiting in a holding area could’ve had may bed sooner but other than that

9 out of 10

My next observation may be seen as controversial or ignorant in my opinion in what I think is unreasonable of what's expected of staff, however and in my defence it happened during my 3 days spent in the hospital and too often to be just coincidence, There were 3 incidents of a certain race of patients families, ignoring ward rules re visitors which meant Nurses time being constantly wasted asking them to adhere to the rules escorting them in and out, they were more demanding of the medical staff attention even although one of the said families patients had 24 hour personal attention at all times by a staff member. And due to a fatality on the ward a bed was surrounded at times by up to 20 people many of whom were wailing uncontrollably for over an hour. On top of this again the same group find it necessary to repeatedly chant and wail every time treatment was being administered. Forgive me if it sounds a tad discriminatory and maybe it reflects my ignorance but I just don’t understand it. I would like to add this was not an opportunity to attack any race but how selfish behaviour can have an affect on staff and patients included, especially when the people in hospitals are mostly doing their best in making everyone comfortable.

I don’t want to seem unfair to people in a job for which, I haven’t walked a mile in their shoes, or have a clear understanding of the bigger picture in regard to the demands or resource levels, nevertheless based on my experience a little more attention to acknowledging the customer / patient and keep them updated of timelines more often, especially in an incidence of suspected heart attack, due to the fact an early diagnosis is essential in assisting survival and recovery. More effective use of facilities / beds. I am certain all of the aforementioned may make all the difference to peoples experience and improve stats / hospital scoring.

Despite the somewhat questionable areas of my experience, I am alive, recovering and more than grateful we have the NHS and its mostly dedicated people at our disposal. If any sector of the workforce is deserving of being rewarded financially, my choice would be Nurses, Hospital Doctors and especially Surgeons (who often save lives and are paid a pittance compared to some over rated prima dona footballers…….bu
t thats another subject for another day  )

Haji says...
9:28pm Wed 13 Mar 13

This is a very unfair reading as BRI & st lukes are not as many places behind Airedale General. I think everyone has got a bit carried away after the recent mid staffardshire trust findings. The truth is NHS staff (managers and clinical staff) are extremely overworked and whilst their budgets are depleting, the Govt, at the behest of the media, are making them do more and more. The biggest danger facing our Nhs is that the pen pushers dont understand the real world and this is destroying the NHS

bd7 helper says...
11:43pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Just get ur treatment and appreciate what you get! Not enough money simple as!

Andy2010 says...
12:06pm Thu 14 Mar 13

The Hoffster wrote:
Apollo wrote:
Third World hospitals serving a Third World population. Hardly a surprise.
Islamophobe.
what the hell has that comment got to do with bloody Islam?

The influx of Eastern Europeans recently who also havent been vacinated is contributing to the increase in TB not just the influx of TB and other diseases from Asian regions

Medical records should be screened on arrival in the UK as should language skills and other things such as....Have you got a job to come to?

If not send them back from where they came immediately

scottie dog says...
2:29pm Thu 14 Mar 13

I am having ongoing treatment at the B RI the treatment and attention I have received has been excellent the nurses, doctors, receptionists, have been caring and a full explanation of my treatment has always been given to me.
I have in the past had private treatment and I can honestly say apart from seing a specialist that bit sooner their is not much to choose between them and considering the constraints the NHS has to operate under well done the NHS.

scottie dog says...
2:31pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Oh dear atypo on their instead of there.

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