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Monitor has demanded immediate improvements be made for patients at Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

In April, Monitor agreed with the trust that it would develop and deliver an action plan to ensure it met its target for seeing 95 per cent of patients in A&E within four hours for the three months to the end of June; and also that it would produce a financial plan that would lead to the trust at least breaking even for the 2013/14 financial year.

However, the trust failed to achieve the A&E target; and at the end of July the Trust had a deficit of £1.9 million.

In addition, Monitor has concerns that the trust is not taking sufficient action to reduce the number of cases of C.difficile or to address the increase in the number of patients waiting more than 18 weeks to be referred for treatment.

Monitor is concerned that these failures may be indicative of wider problems with how the trust is run. The regulator has imposed an extra condition on the trust via its licence to operate to ensure urgent action is taken to fix the problems.

Adam Cayley, Regional Director for Monitor said:
“We agreed a clear plan of action with the trust, so it is disappointing to see that it has been unable to deliver on the commitments it made in April.

“Patients expect that they will be seen quickly and receive good quality care from their local hospital. For this to happen, a trust needs to be well run. Derby must ensure immediate and effective action is now taken. Monitor will have to consider what changes will need to be made if the trust does not demonstrate rapid improvements.”  

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• For further information please contact Phil Groves, Head of News, press.office@monitor.gov.uk (020 3747 0800)
• Monitor is the sector regulator of NHS-funded health care services. Under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 its main duty is to protect and promote the interests of people who use them. Information about Monitor's role can be found here.
• Follow Monitor on Twitter @MonitorUpdate