March 10, 2016 3.12 pm This story is over 95 months old

League table ranks Lincolnshire’s hospital trust as “poor” in learning from mistakes

A government league table has ranked the trust in charge of Lincolnshire’s hospitals as one of the worst in England and Wales for learning from mistakes. United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust came 220th out 230 in the table identifying levels of openness and transparency within NHS trusts and foundation trusts. Government assessors said that ULHT…

A government league table has ranked the trust in charge of Lincolnshire’s hospitals as one of the worst in England and Wales for learning from mistakes.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust came 220th out 230 in the table identifying levels of openness and transparency within NHS trusts and foundation trusts.

Government assessors said that ULHT had a “poor reporting culture”, one of 32 trusts classed in this bottom category.

Another 78 trusts gave cause for significant concern, while 102 were rated as good.

The data drawn from the 2015 NHS staff survey and from the National Reporting and Learning System shows that just 18 trusts were given outstanding rankings by the government.

Dr Suneil Kapadia, Medical Director at ULHT said: “We are disappointed with the ranking. We feel we have made big improvements over the last few years to improve safety culture and learn from mistakes.

“We have an open culture and encourage staff to share their concerns.

“All serious incidents are reported immediately and thoroughly investigated to establish the circumstances, learn from the incidents and change practice to avoid it happening again.

“When serious incidents do occur, all reviews are signed off by the director of nursing and me as medical director. Serious incidents are reported to our monthly public board meeting.

“Indeed, the coroner stated that he felt the serious incident investigation undertaken by ULHT, for a case he was dealing with, was ruthless and spread the net wide.

“He described the manner in which the Trust dealt with the matter was impressive.”

Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust fared little better, coming 216th in the league table.

However, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust received a more positive rating, being ranked 61st in the list.