Secretary of State visits staff at North Cumbria’s hospitals

Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, and Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer for NHS England, visited staff at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust recently for a discussion about patient safety.

Over 50 members of staff met at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle to hear from Hunt and Cummings about their personal reflections on patient safety and key priorities for the coming months.

The Trust’s nursing and medical directors, Maurya Cushlow and Rod Harpin, presented the trust’s patient safety improvements as well as areas of work the trust continues to focus on.

Staff were also given the opportunity to ask questions including relating to workforce and recruitment.

Helen Ray, deputy chief executive at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We were delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Health and the Chief Nursing Officer to the trust and the opportunity to share with them and our local MPs, John Stevenson and Trudy Harrison, the positive changes and developments that our staff have made to ensure that safety is at the heart of all we do.”

Hunt added: “It was a pleasure to meet staff at North Cumbria University Hospitals and hear about their success in exiting special measures. Everyone at the trust should be proud about the impact of their greater focus on patient safety, including their very encouraging progress on avoiding never events and reducing the number of falls and pressure ulcers. Their sterling work is a vital contribution towards achieving my ambition of making the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world.”