Latest news with #LancashireTeachingHospitalsNHSFoundationTrust
BBC News
19-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
'Doctors mistook my baby's brain tumour as teething' - Preston mum
A mum has told of her "living hell" after she was told her daughter had a life-threatening brain tumour which doctors had previously dismissed as from Preston, said her daughter Poppy began having unusual episodes in 2019 after she had turned one, which included staring into space, clicking her tongue and passing now six, was taken to A&E several times, but her parents said they were turned away by doctors who put the behaviour down to Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it was "always sorry" if patients felt concerns over any of its care, but added that some complex conditions were not always diagnosed immediately. Katie, 36, said: "I felt completely helpless because we kept being sent home, but my gut told me there was something seriously wrong."Eventually Poppy was given an MRI scan at Royal Preston parents, Katie and Colin, were told she had a shadow on her brain and "doctors weren't sure if it was a tumour or an infection".Katie said: "I felt like I was living in hell, uncertain about what was happening and terrified that my baby might die."She said it was a "frightening chapter" for the family and for Poppy's brother Jack, 10, adding: "He was deeply affected witnessing his sister's seizures." After further tests and scans, Poppy was transferred to Manchester Children's Hospital for a biopsy. Doctors told the family she had a ganglioglioma - a rare type of brain tumour that's often slow-growing and benign. While it was not cancerous, it was causing her to experience as many as 10 seizures per day. Katie and Colin made the decision to send Poppy for surgery. Katie said they felt as though they were waiting "years" for Poppy to have the 11-hour operation after her initial scheduled appointment was cancelled due to "a lack of high dependency beds".But in November 2019 Poppy was wheeled into the theatre and had the tumour removed. "We were beyond ecstatic, she bounced back so quickly and to see her running around just days after surgery was nothing short of miraculous, " said Katie. Poppy has since been given the all-clear, five years after her diagnosis."Not a day goes by when we don't feel incredibly lucky," Katie family wants to help others and have been fundraising for Brain Tumour Research.A Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: "If any patient has ongoing concerns about their or their child's health, their first port of call should be their GP who can refer them into the most appropriate place for assessment or treatment, which often isn't A&E."We are always sorry if patients or parents have any concerns about any aspect of their own or their child's care at any of our hospitals."We would strongly encourage them to get in touch with the Patient Advice and Liaison team who can ensure that an investigation takes place as quickly as possible." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
14-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Preston's Finney House hospital-run care home to close
A ground-breaking facility that helps free up beds at a Lancashire hospital and also doubles up as a care home is to House, which supports Royal Preston Hospital, will shut in phases over the coming months amid a £5m funding shortfall for the comes little more than two years after the hotel-style accommodation, on Flintoff Way in the city, opened in its current will result in the loss of 64 beds that hospital bosses have been using to reduce the number of patients stuck on the wards of the Royal Preston who are medically fit to leave, but have nowhere else to go. It also means the 28 residents who call Finney House their permanent home will have to find somewhere new to live before the shutdown is complete in early many as 160 staff will be affected, but the NHS says "every effort" will be made to redeploy them elsewhere in order to avoid job losses. Both Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH), which runs the service, and the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), which plans and commissions healthcare in the region, were last month placed on an intensive financial recovery programme by NHS had a £58m savings target for the 2024/25 financial year – much of which had to be delivered in the latter part of that timeframe – while the ICB was trying to save £530m over the same House was relaunched in November 2022 and was heralded as an innovative way of better integrating health and social idea was to improve the flow of patients through the Royal Preston by preventing delays in the discharge process having a knock-on effect in accident and emergency – and even on the ambulance service – when people could not be transferred into wards because of a lack of space. Current Finney House patients will not be affected, because beds will close gradually to new admissions from hospital and the community, meaning numbers will reduce in a planned the 28 permanent residents of the facility, which opened as a care home in 2016, will have to leave by the time of the full closure in less than three months. The trust says it will be working closely with Lancashire County Council and the ICB to support them to find homes elsewhere. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ward closure 'real-world impact' of finances
The closure of a hospital ward is among the "real-world impacts" of the difficulties facing a hospital trust in "financial special measures", its chief executive has told a board meeting. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH) which runs Chorley and South Ribble Hospital is funded by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB). The ICB has to make more than £530m in efficiency savings this financial year. Staff on the Cuerden ward at the Chorley hospital were told last month the 24-bed facility, which is less than three years old, would shut at the end of March. The Cuerden ward building opened in July 2022 to provide additional space for diabetes, endocrinology and other general medical patients, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. Confirming the closure last month, LTH said it was part of the process of "flexing" how many beds were open according to demand, which is greatest during the winter. However, Silas Nicholls, LTH boss acknowledged at a board meeting on Thursday the "difficult decision" also had its roots in the budgetary pressure the trust is under. Just days earlier LTH had been placed by NHS England into the equivalent of financial special measures officially known as NHS oversight framework segment 4 along with East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the overarching ICB. All of those organisations will now receive "intensive support" to recover their financial positions. Referring to the Cuerden ward closure, Mr Nicholls said it was also the result of the fact the facility had initially been funded by additional money pumped into the NHS to deal with Covid pressures earlier in the pandemic. One of its initial uses was to assist with patient flow through the hospital system and provide beds for those close to being discharged. He told board members "good progress" was being made in attempts to avoid redundancies and redeploy staff in the wake of the ward closing. "We are working to make sure that no staff lose their jobs over this," he said. Mr Nicholls said the aim was to repurpose the modular-designed building for another use, rather than leave it vacant. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. Hospital trusts in 'financial special measures' Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ward closure 'real-world impact' of finances
The closure of a hospital ward is among the "real-world impacts" of the difficulties facing a hospital trust in "financial special measures", its chief executive has told a board meeting. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH) which runs Chorley and South Ribble Hospital is funded by the Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB). The ICB has to make more than £530m in efficiency savings this financial year. Staff on the Cuerden ward at the Chorley hospital were told last month the 24-bed facility, which is less than three years old, would shut at the end of March. The Cuerden ward building opened in July 2022 to provide additional space for diabetes, endocrinology and other general medical patients, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. Confirming the closure last month, LTH said it was part of the process of "flexing" how many beds were open according to demand, which is greatest during the winter. However, Silas Nicholls, LTH boss acknowledged at a board meeting on Thursday the "difficult decision" also had its roots in the budgetary pressure the trust is under. Just days earlier LTH had been placed by NHS England into the equivalent of financial special measures officially known as NHS oversight framework segment 4 along with East Lancashire Hospitals Trust, Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the overarching ICB. All of those organisations will now receive "intensive support" to recover their financial positions. Referring to the Cuerden ward closure, Mr Nicholls said it was also the result of the fact the facility had initially been funded by additional money pumped into the NHS to deal with Covid pressures earlier in the pandemic. One of its initial uses was to assist with patient flow through the hospital system and provide beds for those close to being discharged. He told board members "good progress" was being made in attempts to avoid redundancies and redeploy staff in the wake of the ward closing. "We are working to make sure that no staff lose their jobs over this," he said. Mr Nicholls said the aim was to repurpose the modular-designed building for another use, rather than leave it vacant. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer. Hospital trusts in 'financial special measures' Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
