GPs avoid referrals to scandal-hit Stafford Hospital

Thousands of patients are being treated at hospitals in the Black Country because GPs are avoiding sending them to scandal-hit Stafford Hospital, the Express & Star can reveal.

New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton has seen the number of patients it treats from Staffordshire soar by more than 50 per cent in the last two years as doctors avoid sending people to Stafford.

The troubled hospital, which has been criticised for its standards of care and patient deaths, saw more than 3,400 of its patients go elsewhere.

The move has cost the hospital £11 million since 2008 to August this year. The sum would have been received if the hospital had treated the higher number of patients expected.

Every GP practice in South Staffordshire has been found to have referred patients who would normally have gone to Stafford to other hospitals, according to a study by South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust.

There are 44 GP surgeries in South Staffordshire, 15 in the Stafford area and 29 in the Cannock Chase region.

South Staffordshire PCT spokesman Sue Venables, said: "Not all 44 practices are referring their patients away from Stafford all of the time, but they have all referred patients who would have gone to Stafford."

New Cross Hospital saw the number of patients it treats from Staffordshire increase from 683 in April 2008 to 933 in April 2010 - a 51 per cent rise.

The Dudley Group of Hospitals saw a 12 per cent jump from 5,494 in 2008 to 6,167 in 2009/10. In Walsall the trust saw a 34 per cent rise, with 3,744 in 2009/10 compared with 2,788 in 2008/9.

Director of Finance, Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Darren Cattell said "There may be a number of reasons behind these figures - but we are not complacent and realise we have still got some way to go to rebuild the confidence of the local community."