16.02.18
CQC finds improvements at troubled Somerset hospital
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found improvements at a troubled hospital in Weston-super-Mare following an inspection last year that rated it as Inadequate.
A focused inspection by the CQC showed Weston General Hospital’s A&E services had improved since March 2017 but said that the trust required further time to demonstrate that the changes had been fully embedded and applied consistently.
The CQC’s key findings included:
- Use of corridors to hold patients in the emergency department had been reduced, but continued to be used during the busiest times. Although patients weren’t left unattended, previous concerns about lack of privacy and the confined space remained.
- Patient flow and bed management throughout the hospital had improved and lead to less crowding in A&E.
- A primary care service had been introduced where an advanced nurse practitioner assessed patients with minor concerns or illnesses, so that the emergency department was not the single point of access to the hospital.
- An integrated discharge team and an acute frailty assessment service were created to support complex discharges and improve patient flow.
James Rimmer, chief executive of Weston Area Health NHS Trust, said he was delighted with the report but that there was still work to be done
“We’re heartened to read that despite visiting on an ‘exceptionally busy day’ with A&E under considerable pressure, the CQC witnessed our staff continually demonstrating that that the “safety and comfort” of our patients was always their first consideration,” he commented.
“The CQC also documented that the changes we’ve made to improve patient flow (how quickly patients are moved from A&E into a hospital bed) have been “embraced” by our staff both on the wards and in A&E. This is testament to the professionalism and dedication of all our hard working NHS staff at Weston.
“Our task now is to embed the changes already made into becoming sustained daily practice. We will also be using today’s report to prioritise work on the areas identified by the CQC as still needing attention – such as specialist clinical review, patient discharge and staffing.
“Despite the many positives in today’s report, insufficient staffing is still an ongoing safety concern for A&E and today’s publication does not change the ongoing temporary overnight closure of A&E.”
Weston General’s A&E unit closed overnight last July and hasn’t operated as a 24-hour service since, despite the town’s Conservative MP pledging the A&E would reopen soon - on the first night it shut.
England’s chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said: "On the evidence of this inspection I am satisfied that the trust has taken action towards addressing our previous concerns about the safety of their A&E service.
"By consolidating their resources, the trust has been better able to ensure that people arriving at the hospital during the daytime are receiving a safe, high quality service. Patients are no longer waiting so long to be admitted, transferred or discharged.
"However, there is more to be done and the improvements must be sustained. We will return to check progress. In due course it will be for the trust to decide, in consultation with local commissioners, when the time is right to consider re-introducing the 24-hour service.”
Read the full CQC report.
Top image: John Lord - geograph.org.uk/p/1653544
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