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Whistleblowers voice fears over Stoke Mandeville Hospital care
Andrew Clark
A charity is taking the unprecedented step of compiling a dossier of evidence about risks to patient safety at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
Bucks-based disability charity BuDs says it has received ‘alarming’ reports from hospital sources about care.
Evidence from staff and patients is to be gathered over the coming weeks and will then be presented to the Care Quality Commission, which will then decide what to do.
The Bucks Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, said it was ‘shocked and concerned’ by the move and encouraged staff to raise concerns internally.
Whistleblowers have told BuDs they feel unable to take concerns to the trust.
Andrew Clark, BuDS trustees chair, said issues range across ‘many departments and areas of clinical practice’.
He said: “There are concerns about resources in the sense of not having enough staff or equipment to do the job. There are concerns about procedures and how clinical care is carried out. There are concerns about whether care plans are being carried through correctly.
“According to some sources, these serious issues have been raised internally with senior managers at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, only to be frustratingly ignored.
“Staff feel there would be consequences for whistleblowing at the trust.”
The trust said patient safety and clinical quality is its ‘utmost priority’ and that it was ‘irresponsible’ of BuDs to hint at issues in such a way.
BuDs’ work is separate from Sir Bruce Keogh’s inquiry into high death rates at the trust, but Mr Clark said people may have approached them as a result of the wider investigation.
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Thursday 20 June 2013
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