Investigation by the Trust’s Information Services division has found
that inaccurate information was provided in a Freedom of Information Act
request. The request from the Conservative party led to their release
today.
All figures provided on cancelled operations were wrong and should not be repeated.
In
particular, the statement that one Great Ormond Street Hospital patient
had been cancelled 21 times is simply untrue. Further checks are
underway to find correct information. We strongly advise against use of
any Great Ormond Street data relating to this FOI request until it has
been checked.
Chief Executive Dr Jane Collins said:
“I would
like to apologise. We pride ourselves on accurate provision of
information to external bodies, whether through FOI or otherwise. This
was a human error, and in addition, we have already tightened our
factchecking procedures around FOI.”
“Obviously the office of Mr Lansley used the information in good faith.”
“This
is an important issue. We are very keen to avoid cancellation of
operations and we are working in many ways to reduce this, including
working with other hospitals across the world. For example, experts
from Cincinatti Children’s Hospital and the Institute of Healthcare
Improvement are showing us ways they have increased throughput and
reduced cancellations in surgery. Some cancellations cannot be avoided,
but we want every operation we can to go ahead on schedule. It is
better for the patients, their families, and is the best use of
resources.”
Contact information:
GOSH-ICH press office:
Stephen Cox, head of communications, 020 7239 3119
Hayley Dodman, press officer, 0207 239 3126
Email: Coxs@gosh.nhs.uk or dodmah@gosh.nhs.uk
For genuine and urgent out of hours call speak to switchboard on 020 7405 9200
