Hospital hit by funding crisis blows £27,000 on a new name

A hospital axing staff and wards has spent more than £27,000 on changing its name.

Croydon University Hospital, formerly known as Mayday, used the crucial funds to rebrand itself.

The bulk of the cash was spent on new signs and road directions while hundreds of pounds went on notifying patients of the change.

The £27,659 spend comes as Croydon Health Services Trust, which runs the hospital, announced it will axe 200 jobs this year. It will also close four wards by 2014 as it looks to save £34.7 million over the next three years.

Yesterday the hospital's maternity unit came under fire by NHS watchdog the Care Quality Commission for failing patients.

A damning report found the department, where mothers have died, was struggling with midwife shortages and a lack of "competent staff", putting women at risk. The Trust has 28 days to make improvements or it will face penalties which could include prosecution or restriction of services.

Chief executive Nick Hulme said some staff members were keen on the name change, but admitted others raised concerns about the costs involved and felt the money would be better spent elsewhere. He said the trust decided to take a phased approach to bringing in the name change to keep expenditure down.

The trust was already in the process of changing and improving signs to the hospital before it was rebranded. The project was delayed until the name change was confirmed so as not to incur any additional costs, he said.

He added: "The additional cost of £18,000 to change the signage on the approach roads was approved to reduce confusion for visitors travelling to the hospital. This money came from a dedicated estates budget which cannot be spent on training staff or medical equipment."