Annex A > Chapter 9 - The Split Service > Comments by the Trust Board
<< previous | next >>
Comments by the Trust Board
151 Mr Robert McKinlay, Chairman of the UBHT 1994-1996, stated in his written evidence to the Inquiry:
`The effect of the quality of care of operating on children within the BRI is a matter for clinicians. In the discussions which took place in specifying the new children's hospital, much emphasis was given by staff to the treatment of children within an environment dedicated to children.' [155]
152 Miss Lesley Salmon, Associate General Manager of Cardiac Surgery from 1991 to 1993, then General Manager of Cardiac Services until 1994, told the Inquiry of her view of the Trust Board's concern in the following exchange:
`Q. ... how would you characterise the attitudes, so far as you are able to, concern of the Trust Board, the directors of the Trust, to the split site throughout your period, 1991 to 1994?
`A. It was not my impression that the Trust Board in general felt that the split site for paediatric surgery was of great concern in terms of the management of the service or the quality of the service.
`Q. Were you aware of anyone who was trying to persuade them to a contrary view?
`A. On the Board, or outside of the Board?
`Q. No, any pressure to the Board to try and make the Board think that it was a problem?
`A. I think that certainly the group I was a member of within the Directorate of Surgery principally, there were those individuals amongst us who felt that for various reasons it was important. Certainly I think that Janet Maher would have felt strongly. Probably the clinicians and managers of the Clinical Directors would almost certainly have felt strongly about it, and I believe did. I think that Chris Monk, the anaesthetic consultant, was also a supporter of that view. Those are the ones that spring to mind.
`A. My view was that the service should move to the Children's Hospital.
`Q. For the benefit of the children or the adults, or both?
`A. Both, but principally for the children.' [156]
153 Mr Stephen Boardman, Director of Corporate Development for the UBHT, from April 1991 to July 1992, was asked by Counsel to the Inquiry to comment on Mr Wisheart's written evidence that:
`... we wished to move the open-heart paediatric surgery to the Children's Hospital; when the plans to do this were advanced they were overtaken by new proposals to re-provide the entire Children's Hospital.' [157]
`Can I give you the context of my answer? When I was drafting my statement, I did not recall the transfer of the split site as being a major issue at all. It is a long time ago now and I have long since left the Trust, so it is not my everyday working environment ... I then reviewed the documents I still had available at home and I was surprised to find that there were references in them - these were documents for which I was responsible and these particular documents I have mentioned, the application for Trust status and the like, and I flicked through the documents, found these references, thought "That is interesting". I had forgotten that that was going on at the time.
`So that is the context to me giving the answer to this.
`James' statement that he pursued it, or two goals were pursued enthusiastically, I am sure - it is very likely true that the surgeons were enthusiastic to make this move, but it never became a proposal that was actively got to the Board at a level where the Board or the predecessor of the Board, the management team, were saying, "Yes, this is a proposal which we need to devote time and effort into making it happen" with - you know, looking at the details of how we were making it happen. It never got advanced to being a major project for me to take up.' [158]
155 A first draft of a report for consideration by the Cardiac Expansion Working Party, distributed on 12 May 1994, stated:
`Plans for a new children's hospital are well advanced, including provision for integrated cardiac services, but the new building is unlikely to be commissioned before the end of the decade. This is too far ahead to meet immediate and medium term demand on the service.' [159]
It was noted in the report that the most recent previous report was in 1990 and that:
`To date it has been concluded that the cost of such relocation, involving the construction of a new cardiac theatre, additional ITU beds and additional staffing, has been prohibitive.' [160]
<< previous | next >> | back to top
Footnotes
[155] WIT 0102 0017 Mr McKinlay
[157] JDW 0007 0020 Mr Wisheart
[159] JDW 0003 0185; Working Party Report `Options for Development of Adult and Paediatric Cardiac Services in UBHT', 12 May 1994
[160] JDW 0003 0185; Working Party Report `Options for Development of Adult and Paediatric Cardiac Services in UBHT', 12 May 1994