§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason Wythenshawe Hospital scheduled an operation on Mr. S. Ford of Warrington at a time when the relevant consultant was known to be away; how many times this has happened to other patients in the last year; and what procedures will he put in place to prevent such occurences in the future. [76648]
§ Jacqui SmithThere was a breakdown in communication within the cardiac waiting list department. This was the first and only time such an incident has occurred. Staff have been reminded of the importance of informing the cardiac waiting list department in the event that a consultant is not available to cover the trans-oesophageal echo list.
§ Helen JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ask the Commission for Health Improvement to investigate(a) the procedures in place for monitoring the number of times patients have operations cancelled at Wythenshawe Hospital, (b) the procedures which are involved when the hospital cancels a patient's surgery more than once and (c) the system used for ensuring patients are notified of a new date for surgery within 28 days. [76646]
§ Jacqui SmithThe Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) has power to undertake special investigations into particular areas of concern in the delivery of health care. The Commission considers all such requests against six guiding principles which are set out in its,Policy on assessing requests for investigations and fast track clinical governance reviews, copies of which are available in the Library and on its website at www.chi.nhs.uk. These principles include situations where there has been an incident of great severity, where there is evidence of repeated service failure and where action by CHI could result in lessons for the whole of the National Health Service.