Under-fire Russells Hall Hospital chief committed to raising standards
The beleaguered boss of Russells Hall Hospital has suggested she is the person to turn it around as she laid out her plans to improve services.
Under-fire chief executive Diane Wake has presented an improvement plan to council chiefs following a damning inspection of the A&E department by the health watchdog.
She is expected to be grilled by council scrutiny bosses this week over failings at Russells Hall, which have caused widespread alarm among leading politicians and health groups.
Top bosses at the hospital have come under pressure to resign over the concerns raised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
An investigation has been launched into up to 54 deaths over a six-month period at the Dudley hospital.
However, Ms Wake has laid out her plans for delivering the required improvements, including action over sepsis – which the watchdog said doctors were struggling to identify – and increased staffing. She said there had been a ‘comprehensive staffing review’ and an extra five A&E consultants had been brought in.
The hospital boss, who is expected to appear before councillors on Thursday, said action had been taken around sepsis, a condition that kills 44,000 people in the UK every year.
She said A&E staff had been re-trained in how to spot the signs of and manage patients who have the condition.
A ‘dedicated sepsis trolley’ has also been introduced in the department to ‘immediately treat patients with sepsis’.
A report from Ms Wake to Dudley Council’s health scrutiny committee said: “We are absolutely committed to delivering the actions needed to ensure our patients are safe.
“A new cohort of qualified nurses commence in September 2018. We have a pastoral programme for these new starters to support retention, morale and team working. We aim as a result of these new starters to have agency expenditure significantly curtailed.
“A neighbouring trust is supporting us with an induction programme for new nursing starters and a training programme for all staff in ED (emergency department).”
Council leader Patrick Harley demanded answers about how the hospital had been allowed to slip into crisis this month but suggested Ms Wake deserved more time to lead the turnaround. She took over as chief executive of the Dudley Group NHS Trust in April 2017.
