Article For Folkestone Herald and Kentish Express

29 September 2005

I am sure I will not be alone in feeling deep concern at the comments of Her Majesty’s Coroner for East Kent at recent inquests into the deaths of patients who had been treated at the William Harvey Hospital.

In one case a patient fell unnoticed in a ward and subsequently died. More recently the Coroner has expressed concerns that because proper arrangements had not been made to cover a surgeon who was on leave no-one knew who was responsible for the care of a particular patient. Apparently the patient was admitted to the hospital, despite the fact that there was no-one there to carry out her operation, in order to reach Government targets.

In another case the Coroner expressed her concern about the development of infections which appear to be a fact of life in hospitals. And recent figures have shown that nationally the problem of MRSA and other infections is getting even worse.

I continue to get a string of complaints about the hospital though to be fair I also get some letters praising the doctors and nurses for their dedicated care. I am happy to acknowledge and pay tribute to the selflessness of so many doctors and nurses. In my opinion the problem is the system. And one of the most pernicious aspects of the system is the range of targets to which the Coroner drew attention.

The pressure on hospital staff to meet these targets is enormous. No longer are doctors able to use their clinical judgement to do their job in the way they think best. Instead priority has to be given to doing the things that the Government has set targets for. And that sometimes leads to the consequences that we see at inquests up and down the country.

It is a very serious state of affairs. I shall continue to draw attention to it and to press the Government to revisit its strategy. And I shall continue to do my best to champion the cases of my constituents who are let down by the present system.