Patients are being treated in corridors and having to wait four days to be assessed by a consultant because of ‘chaotic’ care at an NHS hospital.
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| The reviews said patients were assessed in corridors because A&E was full |
Two independent expert reviews criticised the standard of care at Tameside General Hospital in Manchester and said there was “a significant problem of overcrowding” as well as delays in ambulance handovers because the A&E unit was full.
One review reported patients arriving by ambulance being assessed in corridors by a nurse because of a shortage of beds and staff, as well patients waiting hours or even days to see a doctor.
One review reported patients arriving by ambulance being assessed in corridors by a nurse because of a shortage of beds and staff, as well patients waiting hours or even days to see a doctor.
A review by the NHS Interim Management and Support Team, who came to the hospital in March, found: “Up to eight patients at a time had recently been managed in the corridor with delays of up to two hours. Nurses ... noted that one patient had waited up to seven hours in the corridor.”
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “Patients should not face excessive waits for treatment and junior doctors must have the support they need from consultants to provide patients with that treatment.”
The two previously unpublished reviews, seen by the Guardian and based on visits to the hospital earlier this year, report a lack of staff at Tameside, which has struggled to cope with the number of patients in A&E in recent months.
A group of junior doctors from different departments at the hospital also raised concerns about patient safety in a meeting with Jackie Hayden, the postgraduate dean. They were particularly concerned about staffing at weekends, and a lack of supervision of inexperienced doctors by consultants.
Doctors have also criticised care at the hospital, which provides care for 250,000 patients in east Manchester and Derbyshire.
Tameside and Glossop's Clinical Commissioning Group that represents local GPs, found that if a registrar at the hospital was very busy over the weekend, “patients transferred to the ward on a Friday night might not receive a senior review [by a consultant] until the following Tuesday", perhaps 84 or more hours later.”
Local GPs are also said to want the chief executive Christine Green and medical director Tariq Mahmood to stand down.
A spokesman for the hospital said it took the views of staff seriously, but said some concerns raised "were not able to be substantiated.”
They said an action plan to address the issues highlighted in the reports – which had been approved by Monitor, which regulates semi-independent foundation trust NHS hospitals - had been developed.
Doctors have also criticised care at the hospital, which provides care for 250,000 patients in east Manchester and Derbyshire.
Tameside and Glossop's Clinical Commissioning Group that represents local GPs, found that if a registrar at the hospital was very busy over the weekend, “patients transferred to the ward on a Friday night might not receive a senior review [by a consultant] until the following Tuesday", perhaps 84 or more hours later.”
Local GPs are also said to want the chief executive Christine Green and medical director Tariq Mahmood to stand down.
A spokesman for the hospital said it took the views of staff seriously, but said some concerns raised "were not able to be substantiated.”
They said an action plan to address the issues highlighted in the reports – which had been approved by Monitor, which regulates semi-independent foundation trust NHS hospitals - had been developed.
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