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Sunday, March 22, 2009

When Health Targets Go Too Far

Stafford General Hospital was the scene of a Legionaires disease outbreak in 1985 and just down the road from my old University campus. Now they´re in trouble again, apparently as a result of focusing so much on meeting deadlines and targets that patient health is being compromised. The BBC reports that up to 400 people may have died as a result. An investigation was started in April 2008 after it was found that the death rate at the hospital was higher than the statistical average. The resulting report showed that amongst others the lack of facilities, lack of leadership and insufficient nursing staff were to blame.

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