Trust is facing stroke penalty

NHS OLDHAM LOCALITY BOARD
PENNINE Acute Trust could be slapped with a fine if it fails to improve performance of the Royal Oldham Hospital’s stroke unit.

The national NHS target is for 80 per cent of patients to spend 90 per cent of their recovery time on a specialist stroke ward.

The Royal Oldham has hit the target on only four occasions since January, 2010, putting it in the bottom quarter of all stroke units across the country.

The failure sparked concern among NHS Oldham board members, and Alan Higgins, director of public health for Oldham, said: “It’s a pretty poor result.

“Pennine Acute never comes out very well in relation to this.”

Members heard an action plan has been set up to address the issue, but if performance fails to improve it will face a financial penalty.

They also heard that a lack of out-of-hours medical cover impacted on the use of beds in the stroke unit.

And when a lack of beds across the hospital meant stroke beds had to be given to patients admitted in an emergency, performance against the target reduced dramatically.

The issue caused concern in the light of medical emphasis on the importance of swift diagnosis and treatment of stroke, for people to make the best recovery.