Annual Report 2004-2005: Performance
- Key targets
- Emergency admission through Accident & Emergency departments
- West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Our mission
Download the Annual Reports
Downmload a printable version of the Trust's 2004/05 Annual Report
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust was awarded one star in the NHS performance ratings for 2004/05. The rating is an improvement on the zero star score awarded in last year's ratings.
Key Targets
There are eight key targets covered by these ratings. West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust achieved five of these:
- Waiting time for planned operations – no patient waited more than nine months for their operation.
- Outpatient appointments waiting time – no patient waited more than 17 weeks for an appointment with a consultant.
- Outpatient and in-patient booking – 67% or more of outpatients and 67% or more of patients having planned surgery must be able to book their appointment at a time of their choice. At West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, all patients having planned surgery are able to book their appointments and by December 2005, all outpatients will be able to book their appointments too.
- 12 hour trolley wait – no patients waited for more than 12 hours in A&E.
- Cancer two week wait – over 98% of patients referred with suspected cancer were seen by a specialist within two weeks of their GP sending a referral.
- The Trust’s patient accommodation complies with the NHS recommendations of single sex accommodation.
Unfortunately the Trust underachieved on the following key targets:
- Hospital Cleanliness – the Trust failed to meet this target, however a great deal of work has taken place in the last year to improve the standards of cleaning within the hospital, including the introduction of an ‘urgent cleaning response team’, dedicated teams to clean the main patient areas and regular checking of patient toilets in A&E and outpatients. Countdown clocks, like the ones in service stations, are on order, and a dedicated training manager for cleaning is now in post.
- A&E total waiting time – the target for 2004/05 was that by the final three months of the year, over 98% of patients should spend no more than four hours being treated in the A&E department before they are either discharged or admitted. We narrowly underachieved on this target achieving 97% in the last three months of the year. Staff throughout the hospital have worked incredibly hard to see this many patients, and this in itself is a huge achievement.
- The Trust significantly underachieved on the Financial Management target. The Trust overspent by almost ten million pounds. A sustainable financial recovery plan has been put in place in this financial year to address this issue.
- The number of operations cancelled on the day of surgery was 666, which represents 1.6% of elective admissions. (The target was for less than 1%).
Emergency admission through Accident & Emergency departments
The priorities and planning framework states that:
Trusts should reduce to four hours the maximum wait in A&E from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge, by the end of 2004.
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust treats approximately 3000 patients per week in its Accident & Emergency (A&E) Departments at Hemel Hempstead General Hospital and at Watford General Hospital and Minor Injuries Units (MIU) at Mount Vernon and St Albans Hospitals. Over the past year, we have steadily worked to improve our performance from 82% of patients seen, treated and either admitted or discharged, in less than four hours, in April 2004 to 97% in March 2005.
Improvements in performance followed work by the Emergency Care task force, which included partners from all local health organisations. A series of actions included "swapping" a ward from Surgery to Medicine, creating a Medical Admissions ward, changes to staff roles and working patterns in A&E. The appointment of Emergency Care Systems Project Managers led to improved bed management and discharge processes, and allowed closer working with Adult Care and Intermediate Care services. We have changed the way the Rapid Assessment Units (RAU) work and patients are now assessed faster and found beds in more appropriate wards or units, or discharged. Together with Social Services and local PCTs, we have devised a plan to improve discharge planning, known as the ABACUS Project - Across Boundaries Appropriate Care Unifying Services.
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust
West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust was formed from the Mount Vernon and Watford Hospitals NHS Trust and the St Albans and Hemel Hempstead NHS Trust on 1 April, 2000. The Trust provides health services at Hemel Hempstead General Hospital, Watford General Hospital, St Albans City Hospital and Mount Vernon Hospital. We employ more than 4000 staff working in over 50 different professions to serve the people of west Hertfordshire and beyond.
In April, the management of the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre transferred to East & North Herts NHS Trust in preparation for the development of the new Cancer Centre at Hatfield.
The coming year promises to bring new developments and challenges as we move forward in delivering the Investing In Your Health strategy. At the heart of this work is a commitment to improve patient care and over the coming months we will continue to focus our efforts on offering high quality services to patients whilst meeting tough financial targets, increasing patient and public involvement, reducing hospital acquired infection and waiting times.
Our mission
Our purpose as an organisation is to provide high quality acute healthcare, delivering the best possible patient experience. In doing this we should deliver the performance standards required of an NHS organisation and ensure that our services offer good value for money. Ultimately, we wish to provide a range of services that meets the aspirations and needs of our diverse patients and staff and which we would be happy to know that any of our own friends and family could use with confidence.
*At the time of publication the Trust’s mission statement was being consulted on with staff and had not been formally ratified by the Trust Board
