Streeting 'won't stand' for failing NHS trusts

Two hospital trusts in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have been included in an NHS plan to tackle the "worst services in the country", the health secretary has announced.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH) and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) are amongst five trusts included in the "intensive recovery programme".

Wes Streeting said "failure has been tolerated for too long" and there would be "no more turning a blind eye" to problems.

A spokesman for the Humber Health Partnership (HHP), which includes HUTH and NLAG, said: "Our focus remains on delivering improvements for patients and supporting our teams to provide safe, high-quality care."

The government said the programme, which would begin in April, was targeted at the trusts at the bottom of the NHS league tables, with longer waits, financial problems and high leadership "churn".

Other trusts in the programme include North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.

Speaking at the University of East London on Wednesday, Streeting said: "Right now, a cluster of high-performing trusts are masking some chronic under-performance in other parts of the country.

"Failure has been tolerated for too long. Staff know it. Patients feel it. And I won't stand for it.

"We won't have succeeded in changing the NHS until we change it for the patients who are suffering the worst services in the country."

The announcement comes after HUTH was rated the worst performing acute trust in the country by NHS England.

The HUTH chief executive, Lyn Simpson, later denied the organisation is "in a mess" but admitted patients "deserve better".

A HHP spokesman said: "We welcome the focus on supporting organisations facing long-standing structural and funding challenges.

"Since the summer, we have taken a more open and clinically-led approach to surfacing and understanding the challenges across our services, which colleagues have been highlighting for several years.

"The shift in national approach reflects that same focus on addressing deep-rooted issues in a more coordinated and targeted way."

Hull MPs Diana Johnson, Emma Hardy and Karl Turner welcomed the announcement by the health secretary.

In a joint statement, they said: "With Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust at the bottom of the national performance league table of 134 NHS Trusts, it cannot come soon enough.

"Wes Streeting is right to say that failure has been tolerated for too long. This is especially so when there are concerns about patient safety."

The MPs acknowledged there had been many challenges and pressures, but added none were unique to Hull.

"They are no reason for low standards to go unchallenged", the statement read.

Listen to highlights fromHull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look Northor tell us about a story you think we should be coveringhere.

Download the BBC News app from the App Storefor iPhone and iPad orGoogle Play for Android devices