Waiting targets missed

NATIONAL targets on patient waiting times at accident and emergency departments are still being missed.

The target is for 98per cent of patients to wait no longer than four hour for treatment.

The Pennine Acute Trust (PAT), which runs the Royal Oldham Hospital, managed just over 96 per cent.

NHS Oldham, which commissions services at the hospital, said there was increased demand across all four hospital sites run by PAT in December.

Outbreaks of diarrhoea and vomiting were also reported and led to ward closures at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Other areas identified by NHS Oldham as struggling to meet national targets are the numbers of people being screened for chlamydia and the number of people quitting smoking. However Steve Sutcliffe, executive director of finance, said changes to the way smoking targets were being calculated would improve that target.




::There were 28 reported cases of MRSA throughout the Pennine Acute Trust between April and December, 2008. The set target for that period was no more than 27.



Cases of Clostridium Difficile (C.Diff) in the NHS Oldham area reached 164 compared with a target of 202. C.Diff cases throughout PAT reached 283 compared to a target of 292 cases.

NHS Oldham has set a C.Diff target of no more than 2555 cases for the forthcoming year (2009-10).




Sources of complaints



ALMOST a third of complaints made to NHS Oldham between October and December last year were about information provided to them (30 per cent) .



This was followed by complaints about appointments, and clinical treatment (11 per cent each).

Changes made by NHS Oldham as a result of patients lodging complaints include putting on additional emergency dental sessions for Monday mornings, and making patient maps more clear.