Bug trust pressures 'unbearable'

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The outgoing chairman of a C.diff-hit NHS trust has made a parting plea for a review of the "unbearable" financial pressures in the health service.

James Lee said he resigned from his post because it was the right thing for him to do as an "honourable person".

He was chair of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust for five years, including the period which saw 90 deaths in a superbug outbreak.

Mr Lee admitted the trust's infection errors were "shocking and terrible".

'Last resort' loan

"Ninety people died, they were old, they were frail, many of them were sick and had been in hospital for a long time - and this was no way to die," he said.

"I felt personally responsible for this... and I offered my resignation to the secretary of state who accepted it.

"I didn't particularly want to resign but I'm an honourable person, and I felt that since the MPs and Kent County Council were all calling for my resignation that to not offer it was really quite churlish."

Maidstone Hospital is one of three run by the Kent trust

The trust was heavily criticised in a Healthcare Commission report into a clostridium difficile outbreak which led to patient deaths.

Mr Lee said he did not want to make excuses, but he believed a real debate on NHS finances was needed.

"For five years I struggled to balance the books simply because there was no money in the local health economy," he said.

"During the year of this tragic occurrence, our income was falling while the number of patients we were treating was rising - and the trust was just under unbearable pressure."

David Herbert, chair of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Patient and Public Involvement Forum, agreed that while there had been "serious management failings", there were also "more fundamental underlying issues" at work.

"When management focuses on financial pressures and government targets it does divert attention away from patient care," Mr Herbert said.

Questions have also been asked about whether a £5m loan offered to the trust by Kent County Council would be suitable or even allowed.

Mr Herbert said: "If the trust is under-funded, that is a government issue, it's not for the county council."

Council leader Paul Carter said: "I hope it is an offer that would be taken as a last resort should the government fail to put in the necessary resource to turn around the crisis with immediate effect."