Government and Hospital Trust leadership failing NHS staff and patients - MP

Commenting on a new damning report from the Care Quality Commission into the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) which found that "poor leadership was impacting on patient care and the experience of staff work" and that "there wasn't always enough nursing and medical staff to keep people safe", local MP Tim Farron said:

"The doctors and nurses working at the RLI have been making a Herculean effort to care for patients in almost impossible circumstances.

"So it really saddens me that they will read this report today and feel like yet again they are taking a kicking.

"The blunt truth is that they, and the patients they care for, are being failed by a Government that has cut bed numbers ruthlessly in recent years and failed to invest in services, and a Trust leadership that have their head in the sand.

"Time and time again we hear more bad news coming out of the Trust and that improvements are needed - but nothing ever seems to change.

"Meanwhile the Government have helped to create a staffing crisis in social care which has led to a rise in vulnerable and elderly people having to be cared in for in hospitals, adding gigantic pressure onto our local NHS.

"I really do fear that unless we see the Government and the Trust leadership start taking this seriously then things will only get worse, and it will be front-line staff that will continue to face undue criticism, and local patients that will be forced to pay the price."