WALTHAM FOREST: Hospital blamed for target failure (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

WALTHAM FOREST: Hospital blamed for target failure

9:52am Wednesday 1st October 2008

THE chief executive of Waltham Forest Primary Care Trust (PCT) has blamed Whipps Cross University Hospital for its failure to meet a key government target.

The Government requires that nobody should have to wait longer than 18 weeks for treatment from the date of referral by a GP.

But the PCT, which buys services from Whipps Cross, has failed to meet achieve this.

The actual waiting time in the borough has not been revealed.

PCT chief executive Sally Gorham pointed the figure of blame at the hospital trust at the PCT annual general meeting yesterday (Tuesday).

She said: "Whipps Cross is behind on the milestones agreed with the PCT and as a consequence the PCT failed to meet the national target.

"You can see how much our success is tied up with the performance of the provider hospital."

The PCT also failed to meet the four-hour maximum accident and emergency waiting time, although times have improved and four new consultants have been recruited to reduce delays.

But its annual health check, carried out by the Healthcare Commssion watchdog, shows that the trust complied with 43 of 44 standards, only failing to meet a a record-keeping target.

Financially the PCT is in better shape than in previous years, said the PCT interim finance director David Avis, and has turned around a projected £8.5m deficit to a surprlus of £102,000.