Liverpool hospital chief admits patients are receiving poor care

The interim chief executive of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group has described the current quality of some patient care as “pretty awful”, while calling for urgent improvements across hospital and community services.

Professor David Loughton, who joined the group during the summer, made the comments at a board meeting. He said progress had been made with healthcare partners but warned that clinical problems must be addressed before the organisation could properly tackle its financial challenges.

Loughton highlighted the experience of six patients who spent an entire day in a hospital discharge lounge before having to return to beds because non-emergency ambulances were unavailable to take them elsewhere.

He also raised concerns about care provided to kidney patients attending hospital several times each week for dialysis, describing some aspects of their experience as “really poor”.

However, Loughton said the problems did not rest solely with the hospital group. He argued that weaknesses in how health and community services work together were contributing to delays and poor patient experiences.

He said the organisation had to take a “cold, hard look” at the quality of care currently being delivered and work with community partners to resolve pressures affecting hospitals.

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