Birmingham Children Hospital Makes Surplus & Turns Children Away

by Art de Rivers | March 20, 2009 at 10:20 am

112 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

You may if you are a patient and live in the UK want to go to :

NHS CHOICES your health your choices online

Which gives the public a feeling of empowerment but in fact the Birmingham Children's Hospital Foundation Trust (BCHFT) is turning children away according to the local Birmingham Evening Mail

BCHFT has hit the news recently and the story is still developing

Worryingly, concerns were still being raised last month over patient safety during brain surgery when the surgeon was handed incorrect instruments and his hand was jolted by an untrained theatre nurse in the middle of the lifesaving procedure.

The report comes weeks after trust chief executive Paul O’Connor resigned.

The local paper reports "bed shortages"

OVERSTRETCHED Birmingham Children’s Hospital has been turning away at least 70 sick children a month in a bed and management crisis.

The children have had to be sent to other hospitals because it could not provide enough beds and operations, investigators revealed today.

Yet buried in this a little deeper lets take a look at what "bed shortage" means :

The hospital, which treated 140,000 in 2007/08 is one of only four specialist children’s hospitals in England. It admitted more than 2,000 extra patients in the first six months of 2008 than the same period the previous year

The Trust also reported a rise in cancelled admissions due to bed shortages, from 19.4 per cent in 2007/08 to 28.4 per cent a year later.

Okay so demand for beds has risen under the "Choice" agenda where people choose a hospital where to go for treatment and BCH has a good reputation

But why would a Govt be so naive as to allow a Trust like this with increased bed-demand to cope with the only mechanism of investment in bed-capacity namely being "surpluses" the Trust may or may not make each year ?

BCHFT in 2007/2008 :

" Achieved sound financial management and a £2.369m surplus (£1.519m after Exceptional Items) at the year end."

Can the UK NHS "Patient Choice Agenda" survive in these instances where money can follow some patients where it also clashes with low supply of beds and surpluses which may in fact be far to small to resolve the problem ?

From the Guardian today :

When the first foundation trusts, which enjoy greater freedom to raise and spend money, were established in 2004, critics expressed fears they would lead to a two-tier health system. One major concern was they would be able to poach more staff by offering higher salaries.

But the two investigations into the Mid Staffordshire and Birmingham foundations has revealed quite the reverse – that trusts have cut staff and clinical budgets in order to gain flagship status, with dire consequences for patients. During the three years to March 2008, at least 400 more patients died at Mid Staffordshire than at comparable hospitals, the Healthcare Commission found.