Streeting praises hospital boss for owning failures

Chris Bown could have blamed the failures of his hospital on the fact it was "falling down" but did not, Wes Streeting (pictured) told an NHS conference

Wes Streeting has praised the boss of a hospital who admitted its structural problems were not the main reason why it was named the country's worst performing site.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King's Lynn, Norfolk, is being held up by thousands of props due to crumbling concrete. It came bottom in the first English acute hospital trusts' league tables in September.

At the time its boss, Chris Bown, said issues such as waiting times for cancer and emergency care were to blame. He said they were now improving.

The health secretary said Mr Bown was not "making excuses and covering backsides", but instead "showing a determination to improve" services.

Mr Bown took over the running of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as its interim executive managing director in June

The QEH, built in 1980, has been prioritised for a rebuild because 8,598 steel and timber supports are holding up the building, which was made using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac).

It has reduced the number of operating theatres available, meaning fewer procedures can be carried out, causing a backlog.

Streeting told the NHS Providers Conference in Manchester: "[Mr Bown] could easily have said, 'It's all because my hospital's falling down'.

"I recall offering that defence myself on BBC local radio, in his part of the world earlier that day.

"What Chris did was offer the warts and all honesty that is the first step on the road to recovery - not making excuses and covering backsides, but actually taking responsibility and showing a determination to improve."

Hospitals at the bottom of the league tables would receive more support, he added.

The QEH suffers from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) and is propped up by thousands of metal posts

Mr Bown, who is QEH's interim executive managing director, said: "We weren't expecting to be quoted by the secretary of state... we are making progress.

"We've seen an improvement in waiting times in our emergency department; we're seeing improvements in waiting times for cancer, care and diagnostics."

However, he warned these "small improvements" would not necessarily be reflected by the time the second set of league tables get published.

Mr Bown added the five-day walkout in England by resident doctors, which runs until 07:00 GMT on Wednesday, was "problematic, there's no question about that".

"But remember the strike is only for a small defined period and we continue to treat cancer patients, we continue to undertake diagnostics, we continue to see patients in our emergency department," he said.

He added that patients should continue to turn up for their appointments, including operations, unless they hear otherwise.