Surgicentre taken over by NHS following safety concerns

East and North Hertfordshire Trust is to take over the Lister Surgicentre which has been run by Carillion subsidiary Clinicenta and is based at the Lister Hospital in Stevenage.

The Care Quality Commission vowed to take action against the centre in February after an inspection report criticised “standards of quality and sustainability of management”.

The report also warned that there was “no evidence” that there was a consistent approach to identifying risk, while delays in treatment had not been addressed.

Concern was raised about the centre after three patients died following routine surgery, although an investigation concluded that they had received satisfactory care.

A statement issued by East and North Hertfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group yesterday said bodies including it, the Department of Health, NHS England and Clinicenta had mutually agreed to transfer the services to the hospital trust “over the next few weeks”.

It continued: “There will be no break in service during the transfer and patients who are currently receiving treatment at the Surgicentre should continue to attend their appointments in the usual way. The Lister Surgicentre buildings and equipment will be retained by the local NHS for continued use by patients.

“Clinicenta and East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust will be consulting appropriately with all staff affected up until the time of transfer to ensure a smooth transition for the staff and to ensure patient care is not affected.”

In response, Stevenage MP Stephen McPartland said he was pleased the campaign to transfer the centre back to the NHS had been successful.

“The service never reached a satisfactory standard despite the best efforts of the NHS staff who work in the facility on a day to day basis under intolerable pressure,” he said.

“Quite simply, the Surgicentre was not managed properly by the owners ClinicentaCarillion and we are clearing up the mess of the previous government, which placed a building company in charge of highly sensitive and complex surgical procedures.This must never happen again.”