NHS bosses from Sheffield selected to help hospital come out of ‘special measures’

The trust in charge of Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital will be partnered with a team from Sheffield to help it come out of ‘special measures’.
Jeremy HuntJeremy Hunt
Jeremy Hunt

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today set out a plan to help turn around the fortunes of the 11 trusts he placed in ‘special measures’ in July.

That includes United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, which he announced will be paired up with Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The Sheffield team will enter into a contract which will see them get paid for their help and will have access to a special incentive fund, through which, where appropriate, they could be paid extra - if their help produces real results.

The caability of the leadership of Lincolnshire’s hospitals is under review, with Mr Hunt warning that managers could be axed if they do not drive through changes.

ULHT will also be allocated an ‘improvement director’.

Mr Hunt said: “Turning special measures hospitals round is my top priority as Health Secretary. For too long, patients have had to put up with poor care because it was inconvenient to expose and tackle failure.

“So today I am committing to total transparency on progress in these hospitals, and to leave no stone unturned in our mission to turn them round.

“In place of the old approach of paying management consultants to analyse the problems, we are giving contracts to the best in the NHS to implement solutions they have tried and tested.

“With the help of inspiring NHS leaders and their teams from our leading hospitals, I am confident that we can get these hospitals out of special measures and on the road to recovery.”

The Sheffield trust is led by Sir Andrew Cash.

In 2011 the Daily Telegraph reported that he was the eigth highest paid employee in the NHS, earning £243,100.