17 November 2000
The North Lakeland Trust in Cumbria has been condemned by the Commission for Health Improvement watchdog for overseeing a culture that allowed the 'appalling abuse of elderly patients' with mental health problems. The report detailed 'degrading' and 'cruel' treatment at Garlands hospital near Carlisle.
CHI chief executive Peter Homa said: The culture of the organisation needs to change fundamentally.'
At the Carmarthenshire NHS Trust, inspectors identified outdated management practices and a lack of strong leadership. They said safety procedures at the Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli, had not been tightened quickly enough after surgeons removed a man's healthy kidney by mistake. Graham Reeves, 70, was left with one diseased organ and subsequently died.
The reports were published as health minister John Denham sent a CHI hit squad to oversee improvements to the heart unit of the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.
The NHS Executive said the unit, considered to be among the best in the country, was 'on its knees and riven by internal conflict'.
PFnov2000
