WEST CORNWALL HEALTHWATCH
Co-0rdinator: Marna Blundy, 4 Botallack Moor, St Just, Penzance, Cornwall TR19 7QH
Tel: 01736 788107 email: westcornwallhealthwatch@yahoo.co.uk
www.westcornwallhealthwatch.org.uk

PRESS STATEMENT
6TH February 2005

West Cornwall HealthWatch today added its voice to the furore over 200 cancelled operations at the Treliske site of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust. Speaking on behalf of the committee, co-ordinator Marna Blundy said:

"The prime task of Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust is to deliver health care to meet the needs of the patient; so cancelling operations which are needed is an admission of failure. A Trust spokesman has been quoted as stating that only 'routine operations' will be cancelled, not cancer surgery. This is in poor taste to say the least. Hernias and varicose veins can cause extreme pain and no operation is considered routine to the patient awaiting it. Cancelling 200 operations means that 200 people, plus their families, their jobs and their lives, will be disrupted for up to six months longer. That does not seem 'routine' to me. When we realise that the Trust's budget is £202 million per annum, a saving of perhaps £80,000 is only a drop in the ocean - and at a price of just £400 per person whose life will have to be put 'on hold' now for some months more. If the remaining £201.92 million in the budget has all been spent, we would be glad to know exactly where it has all gone. We are forced to the conclusion that the RCHT management has lost its vision as to why it is there; and we are only thankful that all the hard-pressed medical and nursing staff have not!

Vice-Chairman Joe McKenna continued:
"It is simply not acceptable for the Trust to cancel operations. It is not a private company which can do what it wants. The RCHT is spending public money and is therefore accountable to the public. The public should know that in 2004 the Trust's total management costs were £4.975 million. The positions of the Executive Management and Board of the RCHT are highly remunerated posts. The Chief Executive received a salary of between £105,000 to £110,000, with the other six Executive Directors receiving between £65,000 to £85,000 each. The Chair of the Board who only works part time received between £20,000 to £25,000. We have no argument with these salary ranges, which may be needed to attract the right calibre of person to ensure the delivery of healthcare.
However, the present team, having failed in the delivery of its prime duty, is not of that calibre. Failure carries a price and on this occasion the price is the immediate resignation of both the Chair and the Chief Executive Officer. The public has lost all trust in this Trust and a fresh start is needed, with a new team not associated with today's unacceptable position"

Councillor Chris Goninan, another member of HealthWatch, concludes:
"We are particularly disappointed that the Patients' Forum attached to the Trust has apparently accepted the situation without complaint, and has left it to us to raise these concerns. The Patients' Forum exists to monitor and review the range and operation of services arranged and/or provided by the Trust from the perspective of the patient. It is not supposed to be a rubber-stamping Quango of the Trust. The Forum, and the public at large, should know that we in HealthWatch will continue to voice the anxieties of patients and the public across the county about the shortcomings of this Trust's management policies."