Heatherwood and Wexham NHS Trust Investigation into suspicious deaths.

Every so often the fun stops. This is the next door trust to Ashford and St. Peters. Late last night I saw this story by accident.

So what on earth is all this about and why over 14 years has this not been mentioned to patients locally?

Press Association - 1/10/13

Heatherwood and Wexham Park NHS Foundation Trust is checking death rates for all its surgeons and reviewing 48 cases of potential patient harm

An NHS trust is checking death rates for all its surgeons and reviewing 48 cases of potential patient harm following a 14-year feud between its staff.

Heatherwood and Wexham Park NHS Foundation Trust has ordered the audit on around 70 of its surgeons to establish their death and complication rates.
It follows a feud between surgeons at the trust dating back to 1999 and the discovery that 48 cases of potential harm to patients were not investigated properly.
Over the last 14 years, the trust has commissioned six internal audits to look at the matter alongside
eight internal investigations, three reviews by the Royal College of Surgeons, reviews by the National Clinical Assessment Service, two other external reviews and six external expert note reviews.
The trust serves more than 450,000 people in areas including Ascot, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Slough, south Bucks and Windsor.

The funny thing is that the trust is only too keen to tell us about how important it is to shut hospitals and yet this all too brief press story has been kept hidden all these years.

Oh and the cost of all these investigations and reviews?

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)