15.10.14
‘Inadequate’ Wye Valley NHS Trust placed in special measures
Wye Valley NHS Trust has been placed in special measures following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection, which rated its services ‘inadequate’ overall.
Following the inspection in June, Hereford County Hospital was rated as ‘inadequate’ and Wye Valley Community Health Services were rated as ‘requires improvement’ under the new inspection regime, introduced by the CQC, to provide a much more “detailed picture of care in hospitals”.
The inspection highlighted a number of concerns and CQC has told the trust it must improve. For instance, the trust has been advised to continue improving mortality rates; and that action must be taken to improve the flow of patients into, through and from the trust and that patient reviews are undertaken in a timely manner.
It was also revealed that Wye Valley was failing to meet the four-hour target for patients attending A&E. And there were instances when patients remained on a trolley for 12 hours.
Chief inspector of hospitals Professor Sir Mike Richards said: “Our inspection at Wye Valley NHS trust highlighted a number of concerns, in particular surrounding the accident and emergency department and medical care.
“There were a number of other areas where the trust also needed to make improvements and the trust has been given an overall rating of ‘inadequate’.”
In response to the CQC’s report, the trust said it has put an action plan into place to tackle the issues. This includes the trust board agreeing to a £1m investment in A&E; seven new nurses and a third consultant already recruited to A&E; new refreshment facilities introduced at A&E for patients waiting for treatment; new systems being put in place for managing controlled drugs; and introducing improved systems for recording and reporting staff training to ensure they have the appropriate skills.
“This is disappointing news for staff who regularly go the extra mile to ensure our patients receive the treatment they need, particularly during a period where we have seen a huge increase in demand on our services,” said Richard Beeken, chief executive of Wye Valley NHS Trust. “We acknowledge the extraordinary commitment to patients they have shown during the ongoing pressure on services we have been experiencing. This is the solid foundation on which we will build our future.”
An inspection team, including doctors, nurses, midwives, hospital managers, trained members of the public, a variety of specialists, CQC inspectors and analysts spent four days at the trust’s hospitals in June. This included an unannounced inspection on 19 June, which followed three consecutive days of inspection from 3 June, which had been announced.
Wye Valley NHS Trust was selected for inspection, under CQC’s new inspection approach, because it was a high-priority trust based on CQCs intelligent monitoring and local concerns.
Full copies of the reports relating to the trust can be found at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RLQ
(Image: The County Hospital, Hereford c. Jonathan Billinge)
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