AN apology from Worcestershire's top health chief over the spiralling number of cancelled operations has been applauded by Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor.

The health campaigner praised the olive branch offered by John Rostill - chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust - as a step forward after the trust chief said the organisation had "let a lot of patients down".

Dr Taylor said: "Here we have the first executive who has been able to admit that things are not as good as they should be.

"Everything has been covered up until now and at long last somebody is facing facts."

Dr Taylor said he was at odds, however, with Mr Rostill's claim that the trust could hit Government waiting time targets by the end of next month - it was currently failing 11 out of 14.

He said: "I just can't really share his optimism.

"I think it is extremely difficult to hit these targets in the short term. How they are going to balance the books without cutting services one can't imagine."

He added Mr Rostill's insistence that the new treatment centre at Kidderminster Hospital would generate sorely needed cash to address a multi-million pound trust overspend needed to go one step further.

He said: "It is absolutely obvious that you can save money and take the pressure off the other hospitals by using Kidderminster more and more. Thank goodness the treatment centre is at least open partially.

"This has got to be used to the full to benefit the whole county and it has got to be extended. The most important step for people is to increase the facilities for emergencies at Kidderminster so that less and less people have to be taken to Worcester.

"The ones who really need it can go to Worcester and the ones who don't can be sorted out at Kidderminster. That would make a huge difference."

The centre - which opened last month - should be used for hip and knee replacement surgery, Dr Taylor said.

The MP praised Mr Rostill's "honesty and openness" but said the chief executive was "carrying the can" for the county's health problems following the downgrading of Kidderminster Hospital in 2000.

"The fact that we have got John Rostill, who is talking openly to us is very good. We can work with him," said Dr Taylor.

Mr Rostill said more than 800 operations were cancelled since April because emergency patients were taking up beds.

He said: "I'm not happy about this and see it as one of my main priorities to significantly reduce. People are becoming irritated. I accept their frustration. It's matched only by mine."

He said the trust's massive overspend - which was expected to reach £13.8 million by the end of next month - was "a much bigger problem than I initially thought" but was not affecting patient care.

He added: "We have now almost completed a comprehensive exercise to identify every single area of overspending across the trust.

"Once that process is complete, we will be in a much stronger position to move forward with our plans for a sustainable financial recovery."

Trust performance in key areas

HOSPITAL bosses are failing to hit 11 out of 14 targets set by the Government to improve health care.

The rate of cancelled operations stood at 2.62 per cent in December. The target is a cancellation rate of 0.90 per cent by the end of March.

No-one should be waiting for inpatient surgery longer than nine months by April, according to the guidelines, although, in December, 538 patients had waited that long.

The trust was also failing to meet the target of 96 per cent of its A&E patients seen within four hours of being admitted.

Since March the trust has sent 96.6 per cent of cancer patients for an initial consultation within two weeks, against a target of 100 per cent.

The trust had managed to get all patients with suspected breast cancer seen within two weeks during four months of the last financial year but again fell down in December.

In the past year two patients had to wait longer than 12 hours on a trolley, an unacceptable level according to guidelines, which expected no incidents of that kind.

In December the number of outpatients seen within 13 weeks fell in line with guidelines .

Every breast cancer patient sent urgently from their GP was getting treatment within two months throughout November and December.

Progress amid big challenges

THE head of the NHS trust which manages Kidderminster Hospital says some much-needed good news is in the pipeline in the wake of a review of the trust's activities.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was visited recently by a review team from the West Midlands South Strategic Health Authority.

The purpose of the visit was to assess progress made in improving the quality of patient care and management standards in line with the trust's action plan - drawn up in conjunction with its stakeholders.

The action plan was put together after areas for improvement had been identified in a routine clinical governance review, published a year ago by the Commission for Health Improvement.

Hospitals in Kidderminster, Worcester and Redditch were included in the action plan.

Trust chief executive John Rostill said early feedback from the SHA team had been encouraging.

"Their overall message was to congratulate us for making tremendous progress against a challenging backdrop," he said.

"The day-long review was extremely thorough. We provided the SHA with an enormous amount of data and they spoke to a large number of staff at all levels across the trust.

"They were particularly encouraged by the professionalism and enthusiasm of staff, the development of the roles of matrons and clinical directors, improvements in clinical audit and effectiveness and education and training.

"Processes for ensuring patient and staff safety also came in for praise.

"We look forward to receiving the written report later this month. It will be widely circulated and I am sure it will provide a morale boost for our staff.

"It's about time we had some good news about health services in Worcestershire."