8 November 2018

The Trust which runs Shropshire’s two acute hospitals is to receive additional support as it seeks to address historic issues in the way its services are delivered.

NHS Improvement (NHSI) today announced that The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) would be placed into ‘special measures’, which will provide increased support and oversight from NHSI to support the Trust to provide the highest quality of care for patients.

Simon Wright, Chief Executive, said: “The Trust is trying to fix a number of legacy problems in the way its services are delivered. These issues have been many years in the making. This is a huge challenge and putting things right is not an easy matter.

“Over the last few weeks we have been discussing with NHS Improvement what extra support could be made available if the trust was placed in special measures. We absolutely welcome that extra support that comes with special measures and NHS Improvement’s support for the trust’s leadership to make the necessary improvements.

“We are confident that working with partners in the NHS and the wider community this Trust can deliver the great health services that the people of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales deserve.

“I understand that the announcement will, understandably, cause anxiety amongst our patients and staff. I am not denying that SaTH is facing challenges. The Board has been shining a spotlight on them for many months and, in some cases, years. However, we know and I know that our staff provide great care day in, day out.

“On that note it is important that we don’t lose sight of all the really great work that happens at SaTH every single day.”

  • SaTH is among the top 20% of Trust’s in the UK for making sure patients wait no longer than 18 weeks between seeing their GP and having treatment at hospital – meaning that nationally the Trust is ranked 21st out of 126 for this key government target
  • SaTH is ensuring that more than 99% of patients are having their diagnostic tests, such as MRI scans, CT scans and audiology assessments, within the national six week target
  • Our latest cancer target figures show us to be in the top 45% of trusts for making sure patients are starting their treatment with 62 days of receiving an urgent GP referral. We have hit the 85% national target for 15 of the past 19 months, and although we want to be even better it does again highlight the good work happening within this organisation. This is backed up by the fact that in the most recent National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, patients gave us an overall care rating of 8.9 out of 10 against the national average of 8.8
  • The team that performs thousands of heart scans every year – the echocardiography department – recently obtained the highest level of accreditation from the British Society of Echocardiography
  • According to the latest survey of women’s experiences of maternity care, published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), SaTH scored 8 out of 10 or higher in 42 out of the 51 categories relating to the care of mums and babies

Simon said: “There is evidence of a really good hospital trust, filled with really talented and dedicated people, everywhere I look. We know there is a lot more work to do and there is a long and, no doubt at times, challenging time ahead, but we are confident that we will deliver.”