Boss says hospital props no excuse for poor rating

QEH interim executive managing director Chris Bown took over the running of the hospital in June

The boss of a hospital being held up by thousands of props said its structural problems were not to blame for it being named as the country's worst performing hospital.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King's Lynn, Norfolk, came bottom in the first ever league table to rate all 134 acute hospital trusts in England.

QEH interim executive managing director Chris Bown said: "The issues... are not directly attributed to the state of the building."

He said he hoped to see improvements to cancer waiting times and the emergency department by Christmas, before adding the hospital's financial recovery and workplace culture would take longer to overhaul.

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

The league table, which shows the performance of hospitals, ambulance services and mental health trusts, is judged on areas including waiting lists, financial performance, cancer treatment, infection levels and staff feedback.

The QEH was built in 1980 and has been prioritised for a rebuild as 8,598 steel and timber supports have been used to hold up the building, which was made using Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (Raac).

The best and worst-performing NHS Trusts in England have been named in new government league tables

The Raac concrete has reduced the number of operating theatres available, meaning fewer procedures could be carried out, causing a backlog.

Because the hospital has struggled to attract staff, it has spent a significant amount on agency workers.

This has meant it has got into financial trouble, and would have been penalised in the league table because of that.

However, Mr Bown said the building's ailing structure did not excuse its performance.

"The issues about our waiting times in our emergency department being too long; our waiting times for cancer care and elective care being too long and our financial situation - because the Raac issue is dealt with separately - are not attributed directly to the state of the building.

"There are things we must do within this building to improve the experience of patients and staff."

Mr Bown said it would further invest in more emergency department medics, ensure senior decision-makers were on shift until midnight, and fund additional capacity to treat about 6,600 patients currently waiting for cancer care or tests.

Despite its lagging performance, he said it had received messages of support on Tuesday from people pleased with their experiences.

He said its friends and family result - a key indicator in the league table - had been "very good" too.

'They helped save my life'

Diane Boothy says she previously worked at the QEH in 1990 and was sad to see "noticeable" structural issues with the building

Diane Boothby, 66, from Downham Market, has been a patient at the QEH after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

She said: "I think they've helped save my life… the nurses are brilliant. I personally can't fault it… I have been looked after. The staff, they're the best."

She said structural issues were "noticeable" to patients and were a sad sight to see as a former employee, who worked in the operating theatres at the hospital in 1990.

She said: "I didn't expect that at all. I know we need a new building but it's the people. It's the people who are keeping it going.

"They're working really hard and feeling like they're being really put down and it's not them, it's the way the system is working at the minute."

'Stick our head in the sand'

Andrew Higgins said the design of the hospital only lasting between 30 and 40 years was "ridiculous"

Andrew Higgins said the rating of the hospital was "hardly surprising" when the building was falling to pieces.

"How can you expect the staff to be able to provide a world class service in that kind of an environment?

"I think it's ridiculous that we have allowed ourselves to be in situation where we design a hospital that is only meant to last 30 or 40 years at the most... we stick our head in the sand and we hope for a miracle that it will resolve itself and it won't," he said.