Hospital trust spends £8k on Australia trip
9:50am Sunday 2nd September 2012 in News
ROYAL Bolton Hospital’s chief executive and five senior members of staff spent £8,500 travelling to a conference in Australia — to share tips on wasteful practice.
The trip was part-funded by the Australasian Lean Healthcare Network.
Bolton NHS Foundation Trust’s chief executive Lesley Doherty was keynote speaker. The two-day conference, her flight, accommodation and conference fee were funded by the organiser.
The other five members of the team, which included the executive lead for strategy and improvement, a senior improvement lead, two senior doctors and a senior district nurse, also had their accommodation and fees paid for by the organiser.
Speaker fees were used to pay for the flights of one of the group, but the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust had to pay for flights for four members of the team.
Brisbane hosted the network’s eighth International Redesigning Healthcare Summit, and Ms Doherty, who took the time as annual leave, spoke about awards the Trust has won for improving patient care by reducing wasteful practice.
Two flights were paid for with income generated by visitor days to Bolton, to learn about the Bolton Improving Care System, which works to find efficiencies in the hospital.
Money for the other two flights came from the medical education fund and taken as study leave.
The Department of Health published a report in December last year which encouraged Trusts to “explore opportunities to increase national and international healthcare activity” to obtain performance-related bonus payments.
Heather Edwards, head of communications at the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This was a very worthwhile opportunity to share our experiences and learn from others.
“It was a two-day conference and the team was also asked to give a day’s training workshop to health professionals.
“Any benefits from the trip will be declared in line with the Standards of Business Conduct at the end of the financial year.
“We do not currently have any further visits planned and would not accept invitations if there was a cost to the Trust.”
The hospital’s finances have been put under “red risk” by health watchdog Monitor and an investigation launched by the Trust after a review found that £3.8 million was unaccounted for.
The Royal Bolton must save £20 million in this financial year and more than £50 million over the next three years.
Comments(14)
Bendix
says...
5:07pm Sat 1 Sep 12
steveG
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3:43pm Sun 2 Sep 12
It's obvious to any half wit the public purse should not be used for such purposes,if some misguided Manager thinks otherwise,it should be up to the Staff to make him see sense.
The Jazz
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6:41pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Careyjones
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10:41pm Sun 2 Sep 12
t surgery, not to mention the cancer surgery patients!!
Citizen Cane
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11:33pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Nibelung
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12:17am Mon 3 Sep 12
exiled
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8:31am Mon 3 Sep 12
Not heard of email or skype?
Typical public sector wasting our tax money.
taverner
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9:10am Mon 3 Sep 12
exiled
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9:26am Mon 3 Sep 12
Chris Custodiet
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10:40am Mon 3 Sep 12
Citizen Cane wrote:Agreed. Well done BN but maybe BN reporters and its readers should also know that NHS auditors regard any spending of less than 1% of turnover as 'trivial'. I expect this Trust spends about £200million p.a.
Well done BN for highlighting shameful and wasteful public sector practices. These jobsworths are accountable and the press should dig deep to ensure that they are looking over their shoulders.
DaveLister
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4:12pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Be very careful what you wish for. Having worked and lived in many Countries with a privatised health service you will see a big difference and not for the better.
Even where the service is free at point of use, as here in UK, you still see very different system. You'll be in and out as quick as possible. I had a fairly serious operation whilst in a modern country with a similar set up to NHS for patients but run by private companies. I was told they needed the bed six hours after operation and was sent home as the other patient was 'paying' for their operation.
I do agree with the sentiment of the discussion though, there was no need for such senior members of staff to go of half way round the world, especially when trust is just about to lose 200 jobs. Even if the conference was going to provide a way to save vast amounts of money, it how it looks that is important. Reminds me of someone in the 1970's going on holiday and saying 'Crisis what crisis' and look what happened to him!
Nibelung
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10:48pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Charles EnZog
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2:00pm Tue 4 Sep 12
Rememberscarborough says...
10:51am Sat 1 Sep 12
Bolton won't be the only only Trust doing this so the costs for the whole NHS will be huge. Why doesn't the NHS set up a group with specially trained experts who can go to these conferences instead of sending amateurs? Then these experts can go from Trust to Trust to impart their wisdom and ensure the vital area of improving efficiency isn't just left to enthusiastic amateurs.
PS. It still looks like a freebie holiday to Australia no matter how you dress it up.