MEANEST HOSPITAL IN BRITAIN

CAMPAIGNERS AWARD "MEANEST HOSPITAL IN BRITAIN" TITLE FOR 2007


Campaigners today announced the winners of the Meanest Hospital in Britain title for 2007 with the award going to the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust in South London.

Epsom and St Helier landed the title for repeated acts of stinginess throughout the year but their winning effort came from the decision to remove one in three lightbulbs back in February 2007. The Trust also scrapped hot meals for patients at lunchtime, asked staff to do their own cleaning in some areas and attempted to ban the issuing of pyjamas and nighties. Epsom and St Helier also boasts one of the highest hourly rates for car parking in the country.

Epsom and St Helier had to beat off stiff competition and the runners up this year are the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust. Maidstone was plunged into the worst NHS scandal in many years back in October when a report revealed that 90 patients had died from a C Diff outbreak. The Trust was caught out trying to smuggle Chief Executive Rose Gibb out through the back door with a massive pay off - a move later blocked by the Government.

However, only a few months earlier Rose Gibb has asked nurses and other staff to come in and work for free on their days off and to give up their annual leave to help the hospital managers balance the books. Just a few days after issuing the memo Gibb departed on a family holiday to Lanzarote.

Other contenders in this years Meanest Hospital award were:

* Royal Hampshire County Hospital - fingered in a major report on food hygiene standards and put on special measures with six-monthly inspections.

* Southampton University Hospital - top of the league for hospital car parking profiteering with an annual take of £2.414 million followed closely by Cambridge University Hospitals at £2.263 million.

* Derby Hospitals NHS Trust - planning to downgrade and cut the wages of 100 nurses and 70 health care assistants as part of a "re-organisation".

* The Department of Health and the Government - a special mentioning for their efforts to "stage" the NHS pay award this year to squeeze a few extra quid out of the pay packets of nurses and the rest of the health care team.

Geoff Martin, Health Emergency Head of Campaigns, said:

"Millions of pounds is being wasted in the NHS on bureaucrats and management consultants who charge us a fortune to come up with barmy, penny piching measures like removing light bulbs and asking nurses to work for nothing. Front line care and basic standards are compromised while the men in suits with their clipboards patrol the wards cooking up dangerous, cash-saving scams.

Health Emergency will continue to shine a light into the murky corners on NHS finance and management throughout 2008 and any Trust who thinks that they can get away with hacking away at the fabric of the National Health Service would be wise to think again."