New Cross Hospital rules update after Jimmy Savile inquiry

Savile cut the ribbon on the hospital's new kidney unit in April 1987 and joked around with staff during a tour of the site.

The trust that runs New Cross has gone back into its archives to try to uncover any wrongdoing during the visit following the plethora of allegations made against Savile in the past year.

It researched how many people Savile was with when he visited, how many photographs were taken of him and whether he had any unsupervised access to vulnerable people.

However, in a report to the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust board no transgressions or incidents were found to have taken place.

But guidelines – as is the case for any hospital trust in the UK – have had to be issued in the wake of the Savile investigations, following a request from the Department of Health in November 2012.

The department asked health bosses to review arrangements and practices, particularly in relation to safeguarding and of access to patients.

The trust said it had several directives in place to protect vulnerable people, including all volunteers being subject to medical assessments and having to receive an ID badge and an induction upon visiting.

All trust volunteers are kept on a database and all students at the hospital must have CRB checks before undertaking placements.

A report entitled Organisational Development in Relation to Safeguarding Adults at Risk was compiled by chief nursing officer Cheryl Etches.

It said: "In 1987 Jimmy Savile opened the Renal Unit on the New Cross site, gave a talk in the WMI and visited the children's ward. During the visit 44 photographs were taken by the trust's medical photographer in which Jimmy Savile appears to have been accompanied by a large entourage at all times."

A report in the Express & Star from April 1987 describes how Savile spontaneously donated £1,000 from his own pocket to the hospital's temporary renal unit.

The Strategic Health Authority has also checked with all health care providers in Wolverhampton as to whether Savile visited the provider in the past.

Chief operating officer at the trust, Gwen Nuttall, added: "We take the safety and wellbeing of all our patients and their visitors very seriously and we're proud of our track record on safeguarding them when they visit the hospital.

"We also value the important work our volunteers do, and want to protect them, too. That is why we have in place tried and tested arrangements and practices which ensure proper recruitment, clearance, identification, monitoring and recording of all volunteers working at the hospital."

Hospital trusts in Staffordshire, Dudley, Walsall and Sandwell confirmed that Savile had never paid them a visit.

More than 450 claims have been made against the former Top of the Pops presenter after police launched Operation Yewtree in October last year.