Surgeon Calls on Hospital Bosses to Quit!

"We are a clean safe hospital" declared Christine Green the chief executive of Tameside Hospital at the hospital`s AGM on Wednesday. The beleaguered Mrs. Green who is facing demands for her to quit her £144,000 post would like us all to forget the past.

In 2006, local coroner John Pollard, denounced the standard of care at Tameside hospital as 'absolutely despicable' and 'chaotic'. The hospital responded by reporting him to the Office for Judicial Complaints. In 2007, the Fielding Inquiry also found that "the quality of care...over a number of years had been seriously deficient." In 2009, it was revealed that the hospital had death rates which were amongst the worst in the country.This July, Mrs. Green, told members of the Tameside Council health scrutiny panel:

"People are very relieved to find that Tameside hospital is not a killer hospital. If we keep reliving history, we wont move forward. We`ve got to get over our history..we've got to make sure everyone is saying the right things, that we're moving forward."

Alas, for Mrs. Green, not everyone who attended the hospital's AGM on Wednesday, were keen to say what she wanted to hear. Rod McCord her nemesis from the Tameside Hospital Action Group (THAG,)called on Mrs. Greeen and the Board to resign. He told the meeting:

"We're still saddled with the same old discredited management." Referring to the hospital's annual report, he added:

"By no stretch of the most febrile imagination could it be said that the reports by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Monitor, were 'very positive evaluations'. The CQC reported chronic understaffing and recommended immediate recruitment of staff under threat of legal action. The Monitor report,(which looked at clinical governance)had also commented that a good Board functioned without the need for regulatory intervention."

Although hospital mangement did their best to pack the meeting with lackeys who were only too keen to do Mrs. Green's bidding, they were visibly shocked when Milton Pena, (pictured above)consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital, told the meeting:

"I support the petition for the Board to resign. I have no confidence in the Board. I`ve reported the Trust on three separate occasions to the Health Care Commssion." In 2005, Mr. Pena went public telling the press that elderly and vulnerable patients were being put at risk due to a lack of nursing staff on the wards and were being left unattended for hours. Hospital management responded by disciplining him for speaking out about his concerns.

Outside the building, Mr. Pena, posed for photographs with Liz Degnen, who is campaigning for the dismissal of Mrs. Green and the Board at Tameside hospital. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, she said:

"I'm pleased Mr. Pena has been bold enough to support our campaign. It takes guts to do what he has done and I think a lot of people admire him for his courage."