24.06.16
Bradford Teaching Hospitals make improvements, but further progress needed – CQC
A CQC inspection has found Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS FT is improving, but there are a number of areas of concern.
The inspectors gave Bradford a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating overall, saying it had made significant progress since a 2014 inspection led to an investigation by Monitor. The trust was rated ‘requires improvement’ for being safe, responsive and well led and ‘good’ for being effective and caring.
Areas of improvement highlighted included better out-of-hours medical staffing at St Luke’s Hospital and better staff awareness of incident reporting and their responsibilities under the Duty of Candour and the Mental Capacity Act. However, the CQC report said that were still staff shortages in some areas, and referral to treatment waiting times were too long.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, chief inspector of hospitals, said: “Since our last inspection in 2014, we have found some real improvements in some of the core services - notably in critical care services and outpatients and diagnostic and imaging.
“Changes across outpatient services included a strengthening of governance arrangements and the introduction of improved training and development, which has been having a positive impact.”
He also said that he hoped further changes in the trust, including the introduction of new models of care and greater integration of care and the opening of a new hospital wing in November, would bring “real benefits” to patients.
However, the CQC also said that the trust must ensure that infection prevention and control procedures are followed in relation to hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment and the cleaning of equipment. Additionally, the trust must review and risk assess the environment on some wards and put in place actions to mitigate the risk of the spread of infection.
It also highlighted outstanding areas, including a drive to increase black and minority ethnic (BME) representation on the trust board to 29%, and the trust’s involvement in the ‘Well North’ programme to improve health in deprived communities.
The CQC will now present its findings to a local quality summit, which will then develop a plan of action for the trust.
Professor Clive Kay, the trust’s chief executive, said: “I am delighted with the huge improvements that we have made as a trust and that we no longer have any services which are judged to be ‘inadequate’. This is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our 6,000 staff and volunteers.”
(Image c. Lynne Cameron from PA Wire)
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