Weston General Hospital

Weston General Hospital is an NHS district general hospital in the town of Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England operated by Weston Area Health NHS Trust (WAHT). It has an Accident & Emergency department, an intensive care unit, an Oncology and Haematology day unit, and a day case unit. Weston General has 358 beds and 1,800 staff, and has the largest midwifery-led maternity unit in the country. The hospital also has a 12 bed private unit, The Waterside Suite, wholly owned by the hospital trust, with profits being re-invested into the main hospital.

Performance
The Healthcare Commission, an independent body which promotes and drives quality healthcare in the United Kingdom, has inspected Weston General Hospital and published its findings. In the 2005/2006 period, on the quality of the healthcare it provided the hospital was rated as weak on a four point scale of weak, fair, good and excellent. This placed the hospital in the bottom performing 9% of trusts in the country. On the same scale the hospital's use of resources was also rated weak, placing it in the bottom 37% of trusts in the country. In the 2006/2007 period, the hospital's quality of healthcare score was upgraded to fair, but its use of resources rating remained at weak.

The hospital, like others, has had problems with hospital acquired infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C. diff). In 2003 the trust had the highest rate of MRSA infections in the country. In August 2007 the hospital was criticised in the local press following the death of a 75 year old cancer patient from C diff. Responding the hospital stated that it had reduced infection rates by 25% through 2007. Performance figures released by the trust in September 2007 showed that hospital acquired infection rates had fallen further with just one case of MRSA in August and 18 of C.Diff, compared with more than 30 just a few months previous. These improvements are attributed to a new "bare below the elbow" initiatve to ensure that staff clean their hands and wrists, plus regular steam cleaning of patient beds.

On July 7 2003, BBC Television programme Inside Out broadcast allegations from a whistleblower that senior management within the hospital were putting pressure on employees to manipulate waiting list statistics to make them look more favourable. An independent enquiry in 2004 concluded that this manipulation did take place. In 2006, one of the managers named by Inside Out lost a libel case against the BBC, which had alleged that she was involved in the falsification of waiting lists. Waiting lists are still a problem &mdash; in 2006 the hospital was one of only eight in the country that failed to reduce waiting times for treatment.

History
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) officially opened the Queen Alexandra Memorial Hospital on The Boulevard in 1928. Over the years, equipment was added and updated. Portable and temporary buildings were added to the hospital in an attempt to keep pace with the growing needs of the community.

With the growth in the town of Weston, and in particular around the area of Worle, it became evident that the town needed a new hospital. Much debate took place resulting in a new hospital being built and opened on 16 September 1986, on the edge of Uphill village.

In January 2003 the hospital opened a new oncology and haematology day unit, the Jackson Barstow Wing was opened to treat patients from the surrounding area. The new unit meant that patients could receive treatments, including chemotherapy and blood transfusions without having to travel to Bristol.

Weston General Hospital opened a new paediatric unit, the Seashore Centre, in February 2007. The unit, which features paediatric outpatients and a 10 bed day ward, was needed because the only major children's facilities in the region are located at Bristol Children's Hospital and at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

Voluntary organisations
The hospital is served by a number of voluntary organisations including an active League of Friends whose volunteers staff the hospital shop and raise money for projects within the hospital; Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service, who use motorcycles to provide emergency out-of-hours transport of blood, diagnostic specimens and drugs; and Sunshine Radio, a hospital radio station manned by volunteers. The hospital also works closely with nearby Weston Hospicecare which provides palliative care for patients with life threatening conditions such as cancer. The new children's centre was partly funded by an appeal, Weston Super Kids, backed by many in the town including the Mayor who made it her chosen charity for her year in office.