Health chief praise for hospital staff

JOHN JESKY

ROYAL Oldham Hospital staff got a pat on the back from bosses for their commitment and dedication throughout the year.

The accolade came from John Jesky, chairman of Pennine Acute Trust, which employs around 10,000 people and runs hospitals in Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and North Manchester.

Speaking at the trust’s annual public meeting, he also paid tribute to the 700 volunteers who help out at its hospitals, and everyone who has contributed to the trust’s charity.

The meeting also heard that the trust spent £514 million on healthcare services during 2008-9 — the equivalent of £1.4 million a day.

The salary bill came to £334 million, and £23.3million went on buildings, equipment and information technology.

Mr Jesky said: “Our board remains determined to ensure that their work is directly connected to patient care and that the link from the bedside to the boardroom is well made. Everything that we do should be, and is, directly linked to improving patient care.”

He said it had been: “A year of financial stability, a year of solid progress and achievement of targets and a year where we have started to see major new clinical developments taking place.

“As we work towards our Foundation Trust application, we can pause to celebrate our significant achievements in 2008-9 and then set forward for an exciting year of further service improvement on 2009-10.”

The list of achievements included the Royal Oldham Hospital’s partnership with the world-famous Christie Hospital, which will result in a £17 million radiotherapy unit opening early next year.

“This will see the very best of Christie’s cancer care in the heart of Pennine,” he said.

Other achievements include:

A 59 per cent reduction in cases of the hospital-acquired infection MRSA, and a 16 per cent reduction in Clostridium Difficile infections.

A new organ donation scheme which resulted in 13 successful donations carried out in its first six months.

A total of 91 new members of staff recruited through local employment partnerships designed to tackle long-term unemployment.

A full copy of the annual report is available on the trust’s website at www.pat.nhs.uk