Too busy Saving People.

I just spotted this article in the media.

Apparently, North Staffordshire NHS Trust's Accident Emergency Department is in the dog house. I am of the view that this is extremely unfair. Yes, I have spent sometime in A and E North Staffordshire NHS Trust and admittedly that was a fair while ago but it was and to my knowledge still is clinically the best Accident Emergency in the UK.

Patients consider "cosmetics" rather than the quality of clinical care more important.This is the problem with patient surveys.

This is what the article had to say .....

"Cleanliness, waiting times and overall care were problems raised in the A&E patient survey by independent watchdog The Healthcare Commission.

More than a quarter of patients at most A&Es in the region said it took well over the four-hour government target time to be dealt with – some spending more than 24 hours in casualty.

University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust was shamed over visiting times with half of patients saying they spent between four and over 24 hours waiting to be well enough to go home or be referred to a ward"

The Health Commission have never addressed the issue of Ward 87 or its death rate. Then again neither has the Evening Mail journalist Alison Dayani. They have both addressed the "Cosmetics" of the Trust though.

I believe the above results are deliberately undermining of a Department who works bloody hard for their patients. The reason they probably don't meet the targets is because they are too damned busy saving people.

So as much as I dislike North Staffordshire NHS Trust's management and they are stark raving crackpots, I think the A and E clinicians have always done a great job. I wondered whether anyone recorded the mortality rate because if they did, I am quite sure North Staffordshire NHS Trust A and E would have saved more people than the average Accident Emergency.

For the record, I don't rate Alison Dayani the health journalist at the Evening Mail Birmingham and author of the above piece. It is because she has a distinct inability to analyse the information by government press releases properly. Her predecessor was much better. Alison also has ideas above her own station but then she would do - she is a journalist.