Jeremy Hunt’s local NHS trust savaged over patient safety after inspectors swoop

Jeremy Hunt’s local NHS trust has been savaged by inspectors over patient safety in a major embarrassment for the Tory Health Secretary.

Watchdogs reported a catalogue of failings after swooping on eight sites run by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Inspectors ordered chiefs to “make improvements at a number of trust services”.

The revelations come as multi-millionaire Mr Hunt is set for a £15million cash windfall.

An education listing service the Cabinet Minister founded 17 years ago, Hotcourses, is in negotiations about being sold to Inflexion Private Equity.

But while the top Tory has been preparing for the bonanza deal, watchdogs have been criticising his local health services.

Critics accused Mr Hunt of becoming distracted by the potential pay day and “taking his eye off the ball”.

Shadow Health Minister Jamie Reed said: “This is another reminder of how out of touch the Tories have become. Ministers are pocketing millions while the NHS faces a crisis.

“If Jeremy Hunt can’t get it right in his own backyard, patients will be fearing what’s in store for the rest of the country.

Care Quality Commission teams spent three days checking hospitals, treatment centres and care homes across the county, where Mr Hunt is MP for South West Surrey.

They found “safety and suitability concerns” and warned that male and female patients’ privacy was “compromised because people could be seen by other patients in their rooms at any time”.

A damning report said patients were “not always involved in making decisions about their care” – despite Mr Hunt trumpeting his NHS slogan: “No decision about me without me.”.

Inspectors also found an “institutional culture and approach to meeting people’s needs”.

CQC Regional Director Adrian Hughes said: “This inspection has identified some significant and common concerns about each of the locations we visited.

“The reports should assist the trust in taking action to address the concerns we have raised and to consider if action is required at other locations provided by the trust.

“We will be visiting again and inspecting the trust as part of our new approach to judge whether the services are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.”

The trust’s Director of Quality and Nursing Jo Young admitted she was “disappointed” with the inspectors’ findings.

She said: “We need to work hard to encourage people to be more involved in planning their care with us and we are currently finalising robust action plans against all of the feedback received for implementation in the coming weeks.”

The latest critical report comes after the CQC placed a hospital in Mr Hunt’s backyard in the second highest category for the risk it poses to patients.

The Royal Surrey County Hospital – in the Guildford constituency of former Health Minister Anne Milton – was slapped in the second band of six. Band one hospitals pose the greatest risk to patients.

The watchdog used existing data to identify four “elevated risks” around “potential under-reporting of patient safety incidents resulting in death or severe harm”, staff turnover and registration and whistleblowing alerts.

The CQC’s intelligent monitoring report found three other risks, including one about staff stability.