Friarage Hospital

Friarage Hospital is a 189-bed hospital located in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. The hospital covers a large section of rural North Yorkshire and the Vale of York which amounts to over 120,000 people in 390 square miles (1,000 km2). The hospital is run by the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is one of six hospitals in the trust's portfolio.

Friarage Hospital
South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
The western aspect of Friarage Hospital
Location within North Yorkshire
Geography
LocationNorthallerton, North Yorkshire, England
Coordinates54°20′32.4″N 1°25′51.4″W
Organisation
Care systemNHS England
Services
Emergency departmentYes
Beds189[1]
Links
WebsiteOfficial website

In April 2020, the Accident and Emergency section of the hospital was downgraded into an Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), with the most serious of casualty cases being taken to other hospitals.

History

The hospital was opened in 1938, and had been built on the site of a Carmelite friary, though some of the still extant buildings on the site were part of the Northallerton Workhouse.[2] It was originally intended that civilian casualties of bombing raids on Teesside would be brought to the hospital for treatment.[3] Between 1943 and 1947, it served as RAF Northallerton Hospital,[4] as part of the chain of Royal Air Force hospitals across the world. It was returned to civilian use in 1947 before being renamed as the Friarage in 1948 when the National Health Service was formed.[3] Student training for nurses was initiated in January 1949.[5] The Northallerton Health Services NHS Trust was established in 1991 and ran the hospital until April 2002, when it merged with South Tees Hospital Trust.[6][7] One year after the merger of the trusts, the Friarage received an £18 million facelift.[8]

In July 1999, the hospital acquired a Military Defence Hospital Unit after the closure of the Duchess of Kent's Military Hospital at Catterick Garrison. Military medical personnel still work at the Friarage with other military staff also undertaking some clinical tasks at James Cook University Hospital.[9][10][11][12]

In November 2012, all surgery was stopped at the Friarage due to a flood. A stream, known as Sun Beck, flows through the town and is covered over from just outside the hospital to a car park west of the High Street in Northallerton. The flood led to the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service having to pump the water away from the hospital into another stream to the north west of the town.[13][14]

In 2017, overnight Accident and Emergency admissions were sent to James Cook University Hospital. This led to some people to labelling the scheme as "closure by stealth."[15] The accident and emergency department was downgraded to a 24/7 Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) in February 2019 because of staff shortages. Average attendance is about 60 a day.[16] After a public consultation, the UTC was made permanent in April 2020.[17]

Facilities

The hospital serves a region that stretches from the top of York to the town of Darlington and incorporates most of the central band of North Yorkshire up to the central Pennines in the west.[18] This accounts for over 120,000 people in a region that covers 390 square miles (1,000 km2).[19]

When last inspected by the Care Quality Commission in June 2016, the CQC determined that hospital was performing to a Good standard.[note 1][20]

Departments

The hospital operates its services from seven key departments;[21]

Anaesthesia and theatres

  • Pain services

Diagnostics

  • Diagnostics

Medicine

  • Accident and emergency
  • Intensive care and high dependency unit
  • Diabetes
  • Respiratory
  • Cardiology
  • Endoscopy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Rheumatology

Orthopaedics

  • Elective orthopaedics
  • Plastic surgery

Pathology

  • Blood transfusion
  • Haematology
  • Chemical pathology
  • Histopathology
  • Microbiology

Private

  • Private patients are accommodated in the Wensleydale Suite in the hospital.[3][22]

Surgery

  • Breast unit
  • Colorectal surgery
  • Surgical day unit
  • Urology

Women and children

  • Gynaecology
  • Obstetrics
  • Paediatrics

Cancer treatment

A new cancer treatment centre called The Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Cancer Centre is located on the site. Jointly funded by Sir Robert Ogden and Macmillan Cancer Relief, the centre cost £10 million and brings cancer care, treatment and counselling under one roof. The centre was due to open in October 2018,[23][24] but was delayed until 11 December 2018.[25]

Controversies

In 2000, a consultant who had worked at the hospital between 1985 and 1998, was struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) for botching 12 operations on women whilst he was working at the hospital. Some of the women were left in "agonising pain" and, in some cases, the women were not able to have children afterwards. The Friarage had decided to bring medical malpractice charges against the consultant, but his lawyer had advised the hospital that the legal action could take years. The hospital paid the consultant off and gave him a good appraisal which allowed him to carry on working at another hospital in England before charges were brought by the GMC. It was since revealed that he had also been struck off the medical register in Canada for "serious incompetence" involving the deaths of two women.[26][27][28] In 2000, the hospital sacked another doctor who had been having an affair with one of his patients. The second consultant had been hired to replace the previous consultant who had been paid off.[29]

In 2012, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust announced plans to downgrade the maternity services offered by the hospital. North Yorkshire County Council asked the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt MP, to review the proposals in December 2012. The plans led to a march through Northallerton town centre by 4,000 people, at the end of which one of the many speeches given opposing the plans, was by William Hague, who was still the MP for Richmond.[30]

In May 2014, Jeremy Hunt approved the plan to switch from a consultant-led maternity department to one that was led by midwives. The plan was very unpopular with the local community and whilst it would not mean the cessation of maternity services, those pregnant mothers with illnesses or complications would have to travel a further 22 miles (35 km) to James Cook University Hospital.[31][32][33]

Notes
  1. The CQC has a four stage rating;
    *Outstanding
    *Good
    *Requires Improvement
    *Inadequate

References
  1. "The Friarage Hospital | South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust". www.southtees.nhs.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  2. Clark, Matt (27 September 2009). "Northallerton - History on its doorstep". Gazette & Herald. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  3. "History of the Friarage | South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust". www.southtees.nhs.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  4. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  5. Ford, Steve (19 July 2009). "Friarage hospital celebrates 60 years of nurse training". Nursing Times. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  6. "The Northallerton Health Services National Health Service Trust (Establishment) Order 1991" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. National Health Service. 21 October 1991. p. 1. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  7. "Debt-hit trust appeals for help". Darlington and Stockton Times. 31 March 2002. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  8. "Hospital gets the go-ahead for three-year £18m facelift". Darlington and Stockton Times. 30 July 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  9. "House of Commons - Defence - Written Evidence". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  10. Davies, Catriona (2 October 2006). "The military hospitals that have closed". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  11. Minting, Stuart (13 February 2015). "Health services to be relocated after MoD moves to close Catterick Garrison hospital". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  12. "MDHU Northallerton". www.qaranc.co.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  13. Gleeson, Janet (26 November 2012). "Surgery cancelled at Friarage Hospital in Northallerton due to flooding". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  14. "Long-Awaited Northallerton Flood Defences Use Sustainable Vortex Technology" (PDF). hydroint.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  15. "Hospital's challenges in recruiting emergency room staff". The Yorkshire Post. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  16. "Workforce shortages force A&E downgrade". Health Service Journal. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  17. Fox, Alexa (1 May 2020). "Urgent care service to continue at the Friarage". Darlington & Stockton Times (18–2019). p. 1. ISSN 2516-5348.
  18. "Friarage Hospital quality report" (PDF). cqc.org. 28 October 2016. p. 8. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  19. Flanagan, Emily (31 May 2017). "Fears Northallerton's Friarage Hospital may soon be unable to treat seriously ill patients". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  20. "Friarage Hospital". www.cqc.org.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  21. "Departments at the Friarage | South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust". www.southtees.nhs.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  22. "Briefing on the development of private patient units and implications for local NHS services" (PDF). democracy.middlesbrough.gov.uk. South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. 1 August 2012. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  23. "Building work set to start on new cancer centre in Northallerton". ITV News. 11 April 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  24. Foster, Mark (19 April 2018). "Major effort to raise £500k for cancer centre". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  25. Bernard, Ashley; Scott, Jim (14 December 2018). "'Life-changing' cancer centre opens". Darlington & Stockton Times (50–2018). pp. 10–11. ISSN 2516-5348.
  26. "Richard Neale - no charges say police". Darlington and Stockton Times. 13 April 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  27. Laville, Sandra (25 July 2000). "'Dishonest' gynaecologist struck off". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  28. Laurance, Jeremy (6 April 1999). "Hospitals tricked to hire bad doctors". The Independent. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  29. Laville, Sandra (3 October 2000). "NHS Trust sacks new consultant 'who had affair'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  30. Campbell, Denis; Boseley, Sarah (24 January 2013). "Not in my hospital: the delicate process of NHS reforms". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  31. "Minister rejects hospital review". BBC News. 24 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  32. Coulson, Jamie (28 May 2014). "Hospital maternity unit downgraded". BBC News. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  33. Donnelly, Laura (26 October 2014). "Dozens of maternity and A&E units shut". The Telegraph. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
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