17.10.18
Birmingham FT slumps from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ as CQC slams widespread quality decline
Birmingham Community NHS FT (BCHC) has been rated as ‘requires improvement’ after CQC inspectors found that people working in the children’s services have six times the recommended workload.
The healthcare watchdog rated the children’s services at BCHC as ‘inadequate’ after deeming workloads “unmanageable,” with some practitioners at the trust dealing with 600 cases rather than the guide limit of 100.
The CQC referenced a “lack of understanding of the risks within the service” and lack of a learning culture, as well as inadequate staffing levels as the community health services for children, young people and families was moved from a ‘good overall’ rating to ‘inadequate.’
Overall, BCHC was rated as ‘requires improvement,’ and chief inspector of hospitals Ted Baker said it was “disappointing to see that several areas had declined in quality” since the last inspection.
Baker said: “It was concerning that risks were not consistently or effectively managed and investigations were not prioritised.”
He added that “staff were unaware of who was part of the trust’s senior leadership team and some experienced negative responses from local managers when they spoke up about concerns.
“In addition, staffing levels were below requirements and some caseloads were unmanageable. Systems to secure investigation, audit and learning were inefficient.
“There were, however, areas where the trust had improved since our last visit. For example, community inpatient services improved to good.”
The trust delivers services to over a million Birmingham residents as well as specialist services to people across Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall.
In response to the inspections carried out by the CQC between May and June this year, the chief executive of BCHC, Richard Kirby, welcomed the report and its focus on areas of improvement, especially the children’s services.
He said: “We know that our children’s teams are doing a difficult job in challenging circumstances and we have already begun to make the necessary improvements to ensure we provide better support to our staff and better care to our patients.
“It is, of course, disappointing to have dropped to a ‘requires improvement’ rating for the trust overall, but we recognise that we have room to improve in children’s services and areas including risk management and other systems and the freedom for staff to speak up.
“We are determined to make the necessary changes for the people we serve and are already working hard to implement them.”
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