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Hospital faces action over wait time

THE health trust in charge of under fire Solihull Hospital was threatened with drastic action this week for failing to hit accident and emergency targets.
The Heart Of England NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Solihull Hospital, Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital and Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, was put on a red warning by foundation trust watchdog Monitor for repeatedly failing to meet targets on A&E waiting times over the past three years.
Monitor, which described the trust's failings as a "significant breach" of its duty, has now ordered the trust to send waiting time figures to the watchdog every month - with the warning a failure to improve could lead to trust board members being axed.
The news dealt a fresh blow to health chiefs at the trust, who have come under considerable fire for downgrading maternity services at Solihull Hospital with a view to moving the service to Heartlands and Good Hope hospitals permanently in the future.
Hospitals have a target of treating all patients who visit A&E departments within four hours of arriving.
And with pressure now mounting on the trust to hit the target, an emergency meeting has been arranged at Solihull Hospital on Wednesday where senior managers plan to map out ways of dealing with the problem.
A spokesman for the trust said work had started on a review of each of the three hospitals' A&E departments, and stressed the trust was one of the busiest in the country in terms of emergency admissions.
But on the eve of a meeting with trust chief executive Mark Goldman tomorrow (Friday), Solihull MP Lorely Burt called for a public enquiry to be held into the management of the trust.
Mrs Burt said the A&E target warning had come hot on the heels of a critical Care Quality Commission report and the moving of maternity services, which she branded a "fiasco."
Commenting on the Monitor warning, she said: "It's another black mark for the management of the Heart of England Foundation Trust.
"I now feel it's necessary to express to the Secretary of State for Health there needs to be an urgent enquiry into the foundation trust and its operations," she added.

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  <b>Red warning. Solihull Hospital’s accident and emergency unit came under fire this week for failing to hit Government waiting targets. (S) </b>

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  <b>Red warning. Solihull Hospital’s accident and emergency unit came under fire this week for failing to hit Government waiting targets. (S) </b>