Treatment times under scrutiny

NHS Oldham board meeting
TREATMENT times at the Royal Oldham Hospital are under scrutiny after concerns were raised by NHS Oldham board members.

Figures revealed an extra 300 patients had attended Oldham’s accident and emergency department in the first two weeks of last month.

Attendances were at their highest level since 2001, but latest figures also showed Government targets to treat 90 per cent of patients within 18 weeks of GP referral were not reached, with only 80.6 per cent of patients treated in February.

The Royal Oldham Hospital was singled out as having “significantly worse” performance compared with other sites run by the Trust — Rochdale, Bury and North Manchester.

Peter Dean, NHS Oldham vice chairman and non-executive director, said: “We have to ask why?

“Is it withdrawal of resources or issues with management?”

Dennis Gizzi, director of system reform and service innovation, said the NHS Oldham was currently scrutinising what was going on throughout the whole North-East sector.

Shauna Dixon, trust chief executive, said: “Systems in place have seen a 15 per cent reduction in referrals.

“One would expect a drop in referrals would help them reach the target.”

Riaz Ahmad, chairman, said: “As a member of the public I’m interested in the outcomes, is the service going to improve?

“Its just not fair on the public of Oldham that they have a service that frankly speaking is not good enough.”