26,500 left with keycards to restricted areas of Blackpool Victoria Hospital after leaving jobs

PLUS - Robert Jenrick it is not, but there has been a defection to Reform UK

Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.

And also welcome to February.

Today we report on a security blunder at Blackpool Victoria Hospital - something that should alarm hospital bosses given the unsolved murder that happened within its walls.

The trust says that there are no known security breaches as a result of the error.

That is the topic of today’s newsletter - but we’ve also asked around about a defection from the Blackpool Conservatives to Reform UK in today’s briefing.

Blackpool briefing

🗳️ A prominent member of the Blackpool Conservatives has defected to Reform UK. Jack Robinson, a former chairman of the Blackpool South Conservatives, does not hold an elected position but was known for his close affiliation with the disgraced MP Scott Benton. Mark Butcher, who is chairman of Reform UK’s Blackpool and Fleetwood branch, said his leaving is a clear sign that people are waking up to the failures of the old parties. Paul Galley, leader of the Conservatives in Blackpool, told us: “He’s now Reform’s problem.” A Reform UK source in Blackpool told us it was ‘underwhelming’.

Butcher and Robinson head to their defection selfie

🩺 Councillors have paid tribute to the work of Blackpool’s Director of Adult Social Services following her retirement from the role. Karen Smith, who worked for the authority in a variety of roles over the past 25 years, announced in December that she was retiring after reflecting on her future. At Blackpool Council’s Full Council meeting on Wednesday, members from across the board thanked her in her absence for her work in one of the authority’s toughest jobs. Ms Smith admitted “the pressures on Adult Social Services are many and great”, and her move came four months after Blackpool’s Adult Services were rated “inadequate” in August this year. However, she said the department had successfully weathered some “really tough times” and the Care Quality Commission report was not said to be behind her decision.

🚗 Questions have been asked on how ambitious multi-million pound plans to bring thousands of workers and students into the centre of Blackpool will affect traffic and parking. Blackpool Council’s Talbot Gateway regeneration scheme has already seen the opening of DWP office Fylde View, home to some 3,000 civil servants. Also to come is a new college campus, the Multiversity, and a new home for workers for the Ministry of Defence, in an area close to Blackpool North Train Station. While these developments have been praised, and the Fylde View has won awards for both the building and the open space around it, concerns about traffic were raised at Blackpool’s Full Council meeting on Wednesday.

26,500 left with keycards to restricted areas of Blackpool Victoria Hospital after leaving jobs

Reception at Blackpool Victoria Hospital

By Michael Holmes

Keycards allowing access to restricted areas of Blackpool Victoria Hospital remained active for around 26,500 workers after they left their jobs, it can be revealed.

The potential security lapse emerged as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into the crimes of necrophiliac killer David Fuller, who sexually abused the corpses of more than 100 women and girls at two Kent mortuaries.

Although bosses at the Vic, in Whinney Heys Road, say access to its mortuary was “restricted”, some 35,000 live keycards were discovered - despite the trust having just 8,500 current staff - because they had not been deactivated when people had left.

It means any ex-employees failing to hand their passes back could have continued to access parts of the hospital behind locked doors - with the fresh revelation from the beleaguered hospital coming after the inquest into the unsolved sex attack on and murder of Valerie Kneale, 75, on its stroke unit.

The grandmother’s killer, who has never been identified, was able to escape justice because of poor record-keeping and other errors, with CCTV overwritten, Mrs Kneale’s room cleaned and used by other patients and her clothes destroyed, a court has already been told.

Hospital bosses say it is policy for staff to return passes when they leave and blamed the pile of active passes on a backlog in processing - insisting that a lack of deactivation does not mean “colleagues could use their passes”.

But the trust was unable to say how many of the 26,500 keycards were returned and how many were unaccounted for.

Asked if there have been any known security breaches, a spokesperson said no “such complaints have been raised”.

A statement said: “The trust’s door access system is strictly controlled to allow appropriate colleagues access to the areas they need, helping to keep our staff, patients and visitors safe.

“Following a backlog which developed in the processing of cards no longer needed by staff, we have made a number of changes to the way this system is administered in recent years. This has included introducing automation processes and educating colleagues on proper use to make sure security is maintained across our hospitals and services.”

The security blunder was flagged at a recent hospital meeting, with chief operating officer Janet Barnsley saying the number of active keycards had been cut from 35,000 to 11,000 and are now “matched to current staff and trainees”.

Documents say: “The board was assured that access to pathology was restricted, and the leavers’ process now included a notification to the digital team for card deactivation.

“Exceptions were noted for those on long-term leave or maternity leave, so blanket deactivation was not implemented.”

The Vic’s HR department used to be responsible for activating and deactivating keycards, with the onus shifting to the IT department.

Work has since taken place to automate the process.

The inquiry into Fuller’s crimes warned that mortuary crimes similar to the ones he committed could be repeated.

Its final report found that, generally speaking, “current arrangements for the regulation and oversight of the care of people after death are partial, ineffective and in significant areas completely absent”.

Fuller abused the bodies of women and girls aged nine to 100 while working at the now-shut Kent and Sussex Hospital and the Tunbridge Wells Hospital between 2005 and 2020.

The probe was the first time that the “security and dignity” of people after death had been reviewed so comprehensively, chairman Sir Jonathan Michael said.

He said the weaknesses that allowed Fuller to offend for so long were not confined to Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust where the maintenance man worked.

Fuller was already serving a whole-life sentence for the sexually motivated murders of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in separate attacks in Kent in 1987 when police uncovered his abuse in hospital mortuaries.

In November 2023, the first phase of the inquiry, which looked at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, concluded that Fuller was able to offend for 15 years without being caught because of “serious failings” at the hospitals where he worked.

The final report examined various different settings and discovered that “gaps and vulnerabilities still exist in the security and governance systems” for NHS hospital mortuaries.

At the recent Vic board meeting, chief medical officer Dr Neil Hartley Smith gave an update on the Fuller inquiry’s second phase, which had national implications, with 20 recommendations relevant to NHS hospitals.

Of the 19 recommendations applying to teaching hospitals, the Vic was fully compliant with seven, partially compliant with nine and non-compliant with three.