Staff may be disciplined over "fiddling" waiting lists
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《英国医生杂志》
Disciplinary action may be taken against staff at an NHS trust where patients were deliberately left off waiting lists.
An independent inquiry into allegations of waiting list mismanagement at Weston General Hospital, Weston-super-Mare, over three years also found that a culture of heavy handed pressure and bullying of staff had developed at Weston Area NHS Trust.
In the wake of the inquiry report the trust has apologised to patients and has also launched a formal investigation into the conduct and performance of some of its staff.
"We accept the findings and recommendations of the report, and I apologise to our patients and to our local community for the fact that waiting list data was not wholly accurate between 1999 and 2002," said the trust抯 chief executive, Mark Gritten.
The report was commissioned by Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority after a former employee made allegations of waiting list mismanagement at the trust between 1999 and 2002. It had been claimed that the waiting list figures were being "massaged" to ensure that targets were met.
The inquiry found that a number of patients were intentionally held back from the trust抯 active waiting lists, deferred from waiting lists, or not removed from waiting lists even when it became clear that they no longer needed treatment.
"With respect to the deliberate holding back of patient data from the active waiting list, the inappropriate deferral of patients from the in-patient waiting list and the failure to remove patients from waiting lists after validation that treatment was no longer needed, I concluded that the allegations were proven," says the report.
It also found that the trust抯 board had failed to respond satisfactorily to warnings from 2000 onwards and that "a culture of heavy handed pressure and bullying against certain groups of staff had developed at the trust."
The report says that the board needs to adopt a more inquiring approach to the information it gets. It warns too that a major purge of managerial overheads had contributed to a lack of the right skills and resources in some key areas of the trust.
The report urges the trust to consider whether disciplinary action needs to be taken against any individual. After the report was published the trust said that it had now begun formal investigations and that it would also ensure that any bullying or harassment of staff would be dealt with.
The chairwoman of the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority, Anthea Millett, said the authority would be working closely with the trust as it implements the recommendations to ensure that mismanagement did not reoccur.
"The new chairman and chief executive at Weston will ensure that the actions by a few staff between 1999 and 2002 will not affect the work of the vast majority of hardworking staff at the trust," she said.(Abergavenny Roger Dobson)
An independent inquiry into allegations of waiting list mismanagement at Weston General Hospital, Weston-super-Mare, over three years also found that a culture of heavy handed pressure and bullying of staff had developed at Weston Area NHS Trust.
In the wake of the inquiry report the trust has apologised to patients and has also launched a formal investigation into the conduct and performance of some of its staff.
"We accept the findings and recommendations of the report, and I apologise to our patients and to our local community for the fact that waiting list data was not wholly accurate between 1999 and 2002," said the trust抯 chief executive, Mark Gritten.
The report was commissioned by Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority after a former employee made allegations of waiting list mismanagement at the trust between 1999 and 2002. It had been claimed that the waiting list figures were being "massaged" to ensure that targets were met.
The inquiry found that a number of patients were intentionally held back from the trust抯 active waiting lists, deferred from waiting lists, or not removed from waiting lists even when it became clear that they no longer needed treatment.
"With respect to the deliberate holding back of patient data from the active waiting list, the inappropriate deferral of patients from the in-patient waiting list and the failure to remove patients from waiting lists after validation that treatment was no longer needed, I concluded that the allegations were proven," says the report.
It also found that the trust抯 board had failed to respond satisfactorily to warnings from 2000 onwards and that "a culture of heavy handed pressure and bullying against certain groups of staff had developed at the trust."
The report says that the board needs to adopt a more inquiring approach to the information it gets. It warns too that a major purge of managerial overheads had contributed to a lack of the right skills and resources in some key areas of the trust.
The report urges the trust to consider whether disciplinary action needs to be taken against any individual. After the report was published the trust said that it had now begun formal investigations and that it would also ensure that any bullying or harassment of staff would be dealt with.
The chairwoman of the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority, Anthea Millett, said the authority would be working closely with the trust as it implements the recommendations to ensure that mismanagement did not reoccur.
"The new chairman and chief executive at Weston will ensure that the actions by a few staff between 1999 and 2002 will not affect the work of the vast majority of hardworking staff at the trust," she said.(Abergavenny Roger Dobson)