NHS WASTE

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Health chiefs have wasted £26million paying a private firm for operations that never took place. The NHS signed a £70million contract with South African company Netcare to carry out 9,000 operations a year at the Greater Manchester Surgical Centre in Trafford. However, fewer than two thirds of the operations ever took place. But under the terms of the deal with Netcare, which ended last month, the NHS had to pay for the lot. The amount of money wasted is enough to pay the salaries of 1,000 nurses for a year.

The £26million would also have been enough to fund 100,000 overnight stays in hospital and is more than it cost to set up the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre, in south Manchester - one of the world's most advanced cancer research units. The 10 Greater Manchester PCTs have only used 62% of the Netcare contract since it was signed in 2005. Health bosses say the contract has helped reduce waiting lists dramatically and more than 34,000 people have been to the treatment centre, which has carried out 27,000 operations.

At the time of the agreement, some patients were being forced to wait 15 months for operations. Almost 90% of general surgery operations bought were used, 70% of orthopaedic ops were used and just 30% of ear, nose and throat procedures. The centre will transfer back to Trafford NHS Trust, as planned during the summer. A Netcare official said. "Whilst the level of activity completed at the GMSC is lower than what was contracted, this difference may be attributed to the GMSC helping to decrease NHS wait times much sooner than anticipated." (Source: Daily Mail, Jun/10)

The NHS has spent £1.5m paying for hundreds of its staff to have private health treatment so they can leapfrog their own waiting lists. More than 3,000 staff, including doctors and nurses, have gone private at the taxpayers’ expense in the past three years because the queues at the clinics and hospitals where they work are too long. Figures released under the Freedom of Information act show that NHS administrative staff, paramedics and ambulance drivers have also been given free private healthcare. This has covered physiotherapy, osteopathy, psychiatric care and counselling, all widely available on the NHS.

Norman Lamb, the Lib Dem health spokesman, who obtained the figures, said, “It simply isn’t fair to have one service for staff and another for everyone else. If the NHS has to circumvent their own waiting lists the system isn’t working well enough. It’s an admission by the NHS that their own system isn’t able to respond to the mass of people desperate to get back to work.” The number of health service employees sent to private healthcare facilities has more than doubled in the past three years. The health department defended the practice and said sending doctors, nurses and other key staff for private treatment helped to get them back to work.

A spokesman said, “If trusts want to get their staff back to work more quickly they can’t jump NHS waiting lists, so going private is an option. There is evidence that early intervention in tackling sickness absence enables staff to return to work more quickly. Other benefits include, reducing the risk of chronic illness that could result in ill health retirement, cost-saving on temporary staff and having a positive impact on staff health and wellbeing and, in turn, patient satisfaction.” The East Midlands ambulance service recently set up a contract with a private occupational healthcare specialist worth £300,000 a year. (Source: Times Online, Oct/09)

NHS rules stopped Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson giving £1.5m to a life-saving baby blood bank, because benefactors weren't allowed to specify how their money is spent within the NHS. Public Health minister Caroline Flint then suggested he had failed to pay the promised cash. Sir Richard set up his own Virgin Health Bank because of the desperate need for stem cells but it has now emerged that he was prepared to hand over £1.5million to the NHS for the same purposes 10 years ago but was thwarted because of ludicrous red tape. (Source: Sunday People, Feb/07)

Sussex hospital trust bosses have put price tags on bandages and syringes to make nurses think twice about using them. Trays of the essential items are labelled with the cost of each unit. Staff at Worthing Hospital claim the supply of gloves has been slashed and moist wipes are no longer available. A spokesman for the trust said, "Because we are trying to cut costs we are trying to get staff to ask, is this bandage really necessary?" Caroline Fife of staff union Unison said, "The Trust is around £9million in the red so it makes sense to let staff see just how much things cost to help avoid waste." (Source: Daily Mirror, Mar/06)

Breast cancer specialist Alastair Paterson was warned by health bosses not to treat "non urgent" cases or those brought in ahead of time because the NHS can't afford to pay for them. Mr Paterson said, "The bottom line here is people's health. Patients need to be seen and sorted. By running a diary system I am able to operate on the date we set. There's no need for waiting lists." A spokesman for North and East Cornwall Primary Care Trust said, "While we would wish to treat everyone immediately we do not have enough money." (Source: Daily Mirror)

A mother spent two hours waiting with her sick baby on a hospital children's ward while the doctor they were due to see was passing in front of them on a unicycle. After Paula Dadswell complained, she received a letter from hospital managers assuring her that in future all unicycling on the ward would be restricted to "special occasions".

A South Tyneside Health Care Trust spokesman said, "The staff of our children's unit make every effort to provide a welcoming and happy environment. Many parents have commented favourably on this approach and indeed about the unicycle. The child in question was not neglected and his care was not compromised in any way." (Source: The Telegraph)

Patients are having to wait up to three years to get an NHS hearing aid. The average wait has increased by seven weeks in 2004, despite efforts by the Government to shorten queues. On average, hard-of-hearing patients have to wait 47 weeks for an aid. Longest queue is three years at City Hospital, Birmingham then two-and-a-half years in Leeds and Brighton. Four out of 10 UK hospitals have seen their waiting lists lengthen. Worst was in Scotland where they rose in 62%. The increases are due to a lack of hearing experts and a big demand for digital models. The study was carried out by the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists.

Its President Karen Finch said, "Hospitals are short of audiologists and demand has soared for digital hearing aids. Until clinics deal with new patients, there seems little hope for individuals who want to upgrade. We have even heard of a six-year wait for some." Pensioner Janet Warnes waited four years for an appointment at Leeds General only to find her consultant had been dead two years. Ms Finch added, "There are hundreds of qualified professionals available in the private sector who are currently being ignored." A Department of Health spokeswoman said some patients were waiting too long but private aid was available to cut queues. (Source: Daily Mirror)

North Staffordshire Hospitals NHS Trust is to pay £20,000 a year to someone who will push trolleys with craft materials to patients’ beds. According to the advert for the vacancy, a requirement for the role of “Trolley Art Project Manager” is a “sense of humour”. The Trust said, “Trolley art is a way of bringing art to the bedside, it helps people face up to their illness. It is funded by the Arts Council and West Midlands Arts. It is not a waste of money. Each trolley has shelves for art materials. It’s therapeutic. It may sound quirky but it really does work. We are very much into the arts. We are dealing with the creative process, it’s not really something anyone on the street can come and do.” (Source: The Sun)

NHS chiefs who are closing hospitals to save cash have given two senior staff more than £350,000 in redundancy payments. Annual financial reports reveal Lesley Watts, chief executive of Ipswich Primary Care Trust, received £200,000 for losing her £80,000-a-year job. Harper Brown, who had the same role at Central Suffolk PCT, was given £155,000. Both had the job for less than three years. East Suffolk Primary Care Trust, which has debts of £18million, made the payments when three PCTs recently merged. It is selling two hospitals for £6million, reducing "avoidable admissions" to save £3.2million and axing beds at Aldeburgh. Suffolk Coastal Tory MP John Gummer branded the redundancy deals "totally unacceptable". The Trust said the payouts were made due to "contractual obligation" and employment law.

North Staffordshire Hospitals NHS Trust is to pay £20,000 a year to someone who will push trolleys with craft materials to patients’ beds. According to the advert for the vacancy, a requirement for the role of “Trolley Art Project Manager” is a “sense of humour”. The Trust said, “Trolley art is a way of bringing art to the bedside, it helps people face up to their illness. It is funded by the Arts Council and West Midlands Arts. It is not a waste of money. Each trolley has shelves for art materials. It’s therapeutic. It may sound quirky but it really does work. We are very much into the arts. We are dealing with the creative process, it’s not really something anyone on the street can come and do.” (Source: The Sun)

Ministers hosted a lavish health summit at a five-star hotel only a mile away from hospitals facing bed cuts to save cash. Around £500,000 of taxpayers' money was spent hiring the luxurious Grove Hotel in Watford for a two-day meeting of European Union health ministers. At the same time, the West Herts Hospitals Trust is to axe 90 beds and close wards at hospitals in Watford and nearby Hemel Hempstead to reduce its £13million deficit. (Source: Daily Mirror)