Two NHS organisations on opposite sides of a region have blamed a new equipment supplier for recent problems with hospital discharges and pressure ulcers, the latter of which prompted a serious incident.
South East London Integrated Care Board and the north London-based Whittington Healthcare Trust have both publicly complained about NRS Healthcare after problems with the service, which covers nearly two-thirds of London boroughs.
The Whittington declared a serious incident earlier this year and said pressure ulcers “relate to the new NRS contract, which continues to be monitored across north central London”.
Trust board papers presented to directors in January said: “There are known issues with NRS (pressure ulcer-relieving equipment company) for a number of equipment types since the contract implementation. Concerns were escalated to the integrated care board and the commissioners of this service. Although there [have] been some improvements it remains inconsistent.”
The contract was awarded last April by the borough of Kensington and Chelsea on behalf of another 20 London local authorities. A council spokesman said the five-year contract saw authorities pay depending on the volume of equipment they used. A tenders and procurement site estimated the agreement’s value at £20m.
SEL ICB also complained about the service. It said NRS “is not meeting its contractual requirements” meaning people awaiting hospital discharge were receiving the wrong equipment or seeing it delivered late.
Source: HSJ
Date: 6 March