Birmingham Children’s Hospital turning away at least 70 sick children a month

Mar 20 2009 by Alison Dayani, Birmingham Mail

Surgeons from neighbouring Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Edgbaston, first raised concerns in January last year, but serious issues were not rapidly addressed and a report by Birmingham primary care trusts was not passed on to board members at Monitor, the overseeing body of foundation trusts.

Children’s Hospital bosses told investigators at least 70 children a month had to be redirected to other hospitals, travelling further away from home for treatment, with numbers of cancelled admissions due to lack of beds rising in the past year.

The Commission found that bed shortages causing delays was a particular concern for liver disease patients needing urgent treatment. 

Angry parents Ayaz and Sophie Ahmed, whose daughter Alesha died at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, said they were not surprised by the findings as they thought the hospital was managed “appallingly” with staff unaware of procedures and a two week delay in getting their baby into intensive care.

Anna Walker, the Commission’s Chief Executive, said Birmingham Children’s Hospital had been struggling with “very real problems with its ability to meet demands for the service”.

“The response to safety concerns has been slower than ideal. It is deeply concerning that serious issues were raised but not properly or rapidly addressed over several months.

“While we have no evidence of serious incidents causing harm to patients, the standard of care has not been as good as it should have been in some cases.”

Birmingham health scrutiny chair, Coun Deirdre Alden, was critical of the Trust blaming rising demand patient choice for the rise in demand.

“Every hospital is having to cope with increasing demand and they should have seen this extra pressure coming and had better plans to cope,” said Coun Alden.

“People think of it as a hospital for Birmingham, but it isn’t, it is for a much wider area. This isn’t down to one person at the top and the Children’s Hospital has now got to prove to everyone that it is alright and things have changed.”

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.