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Hospital campaigner says Care Quality Commission findings vindicate what they have been saying
08/03/2024
“There’s too many managers, including civil servants, that are paid for having a job rather than being paid for doing a job”
The critical Care Quality Commission report into maternity services at the Horton General Hospital is just what a leading campaigner for the hospital had feared.
Keith Strangwood of the Keep The Horton General Campaign is one of a number of people expressing their disappointment at the news the midwife led birthing unit had been rated as “needs improvement”.
Mr Strangwood said the inspector’s report was vindication of everything that his group had been saying since 2016, but he was shocked this was the first inspection they had undertaken since the downgrade from a stand-alone unit.
Mr Strangwood told Banbury FM: “There needs to be a review of the need for full obstetric services at the Horton Hospital.
“I don’t blame the staff for some of the stuff that’s in the report. What went wrong is management – it’s all down to management. There’s too many managers, including civil servants, that are paid for having a job rather than being paid for doing a job. The staff are only following policy, it’s not their fault – it’s the managers.
“Now the truth has come out it’s time for the controllers – the OUH Hospitals Trust – to start telling the people upstairs what the problem is, rather than being told what to do by the people upstairs. I’m referring to the government and NHS England … We need the money, we need the grant funding we were going to get for the Horton Vision.
“Following the General Election perhaps things might change if the Conservatives come back to their senses or we end up with a different government.”
Banbury’s MP Victoria Prentis told us she found the news extremely disappointing. Whilst the report made some positive observations about the range of maternity services at the Horton and work done by staff to tackle health inequalities in the local community, it was clear to her that important improvements need to be made to processes, practices and procedures.
Mrs Prentis said: “Having spoken to the Trust earlier this week, I have been told that some action has already been taken since the inspection took place in October 2023.
“I will be meeting the CQC in the coming weeks to discuss their findings in further detail. In the meantime, I am reassured that they will keep a close eye on the unit in the months to come. I will also continue to remind the Trust that they need to do all they can to make sure the Horton’s maternity service is fit for purpose. Expectant mothers must be confident in where they choose to have their babies.”
But one of the people who will be standing against Mrs Prentis at the General Election is clear where he feels the fault lies. Labour’s Sean Woodcock says people are telling him that things aren’t working anymore and nowhere is that more clear than in the NHS.
Mr Woodcock said: “When it comes to the Horton Hospital, I think Victoria Prentis should be utterly ashamed of her record and what has been allowed to happen on her watch, under her government.
“Not only did we lose consultant led maternity a few years ago, but we missed out on vital funding to improve and invest in our hospital, bringing it into the 21st century. And now we have this news.
“Frankly, residents in Banbury and North Oxfordshire as a whole are entitled to ask what on earth she’s been doing for the last nine years if the Horton Hospital is one of her priorities, as she likes to claim.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam