Hospital bosses in Bradford have called in experts for help and advice after failing to hit two targets.
A board of governors meeting of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust yesterday heard how the trust had welcomed external input at the end of last year on how to tackle rising rates of the hospital superbug C difficile. The rise is due to a new strain which produces more severe disease and is more infectious.
The external team worked alongside the trust’s infection control teams to improve performance.
Trust chief executive Bryan Millar said a similar robust approach was being taken towards tackling the 62-day cancer target which the trust had also breached.
Cancer patients should wait no longer than 62 days from urgent GP referral to first treatment, but in quarter three of the year just 78.58 per cent of patients – or 150 out of the 188 patients referred to the foundation trust – were treated against an 85 per cent target.
A support team will visit Bradford on January 24 and 25 to help the foundation improve the system.
Chairman of the board of governors David Richardson said that while the breaches put the trust at risk with the regulatory body Monitor, the trust was more concerned about the experiences of patients.
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