A&E, cancer care and operations: Wolverhampton NHS trust missing three key targets

A shock report shows the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, failed to meet the Government’s most important targets for A&E, cancer and routine operations every month in 2017-18.

NHS bosses have warned of a testing winter ahead, while politicians in the city have demanded health bosses stop piling extra pressure on New Cross Hospital’s already strained resources.

What do the figures reveal?

Looking at cancer waiting times, the trust was rock bottom out of 131 trusts.

Only 53.3 per cent of patients were treated within the required 62 day period, compared to the national average of 78.2 per cent and an NHS target of 85 per cent.

March saw the trust’s best performance for cancer, when three-quarters of all patients were dealt with on time.

The hospital has struggled to meet NHS waiting targets in its clogged A&E department, which say 95 per cent of patients should be seen within four hours.

The latest figures show New Cross hit 91.8 per cent in October – above the national average of 89.1 per cent but still below target.

A total of 90.8 per cent of patients had planned operations within 18 weeks of referral, 1.2 per cent under the target figure.

Government cuts bite, say Wolverhampton's Labour MPs

Wolverhampton South East Labour MP Pat McFadden said the hospitals missing waiting time targets was a national problem.

“Targets like the four hour waiting time target for A&E were introduced by the Labour Government when we were putting in a lot of extra money to the NHS and wanted to ensure that patients saw the benefit,” he said.

“We wanted to ensure that extra investment was matched by a reduction in waiting, whether that was in A&E or for planned surgery for things like hip and knee replacements.

“In recent years more and more targets have been missed and waiting times in many areas have been going up.

“The failure to meet these targets shows the huge degree of pressure the NHS is under.

“Local factors have added to the pressures on New Cross but this is not just a local phenomenon – the targets are being missed right across the country.

“The only way to get on top of this is to ensure that the NHS gets the resources and the staff it needs so that the public get the quality and speed of service they have a right to expect.”

Wolverhampton South West MP Eleanor Smith, a former theatre nurse, lead a parliamentary debate on the country’s nursing shortage this week.

She said waiting times will not improve unless NHS staffing shortages are addressed. “The people of Wolverhampton do deserve the best levels of service from their hospital, but you have to look behind these figures and avoid getting in to the blame game against staff and individual hospitals,” the Labour MP said.

“NHS staff will always do their best.

“The focus has to be on the Government – it is them who are letting patients down.

“Just one part of this is the shortage of nurses. The situation is beyond shocking. There are almost 42,000 vacant nursing posts in the NHS in England.

“There has to be Government investment in training.”

Emma Reynolds, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East, says the figures show how vital it is that no extra pressure is put on New Cross.

She said: “It is worrying the people are having to wait longer, but I’m sure the hospital are doing all they can to start meeting targets.

“New Cross may have missed targets, but in terms of A&E services, they are performing better than some other trusts in the area.”

Is New Cross under pressure due to Shropshire and Staffordshire NHS shake-up?

New Cross Hospital has received a much-needed boost after it was revealed Telford’s A&E would not be closing overnight.

It had been proposed to shut the emergency department due to a staff shortages and there were real fears about the impact it would have 20 miles away in Wolverhampton.

The city’s hospital has already been put under huge strain by the crisis at Stafford's County Hospital, where the A&E remains closed, while patients have also been directed to Wolverhampton from Walsall Manor Hospital.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust announced yesterday that a mixture of locum and agency middle grade doctors are now committed to rotas until the end of March, meaning the A&E will not have to close.

The news will come as a relief to health chiefs at New Cross as well as senior politicians in the city, who has spoken out against the plans to shut Telford.

Simon Wright, Chief Executive at SaTH, said: “This is fantastic news. We had said all along that we didn’t want to close either of our A&Es overnight.”

Councillor Wendy Thompson, Wolverhampton Council’s opposition Tory leader, added: “People will be wondering what on earth is going on.

“New Cross has been forced to deal with a large amount of patients as a result of the overnight closure of services in Stafford.

It has also taken patients from the Manor in Walsall and is clearly struggling to cope.

Absolutely no more pressure should be placed on New Cross.

The issue of waiting times must be addressed before it gets worse.”

City council leader Roger Lawrence criticised the ‘target culture’ within the NHS, which he suggested was not the best way to measure success of hospitals.

The trust was one of 29 to fail to hit any of the three main targets over the last year.

He said: “They are under enormous pressure from the extra demand that has been put onto New Cross from the surrounding areas.

“In my view there are some excellent staff – I went to A&E myself a few weeks ago and was in and out within an hour,

“The target culture doesn’t necessarily accurately reflect on the performance at New Cross, in my experience.”

Health boss defends her ‘above and beyond’ staff

Under-strain staff at New Cross Hospital are doing all they can to make sure patients are seen on time but are being pushed to the limit by the level of demand, bosses said today.

Gwen Nuttall, chief operating officer at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which also runs Cannock Chase Hospital, defended New Cross and said staff were going ‘above and beyond’ to treat patients as quickly as possible.

She said meeting targets set by the Government was proving a ‘challenge’.

Ms Nuttall said: “Our hospitals, along with others regionally and nationally, are incredibly busy. We strive to provide high quality and safe care for every one of our patients and our hard-working staff go above and beyond to ensure that patient safety is the highest priority.

“Meeting national targets will always be a challenge but we are doing all that we can to ensure our patients are not waiting longer than necessary to receive the care that they need.”