02.08.16
Southend University Hospital FT rated requires improvement over staffing concerns
Southend University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has received a requires improvement rating from the CQC after the regulator found the hospital lacked safe staffing levels and was cancelling operations.
A CQC inspection in January this year found that the trust lacked sufficient and appropriate staffing levels in some areas, particularly end of life and palliative care.
There was also a high level of cancelled operations, sometimes without clinical input, and there was a back log of patients waiting for follow up appointments in ophthalmology and respiratory services.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, the CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, said: “Staffing numbers were not adequate to meet patients’ needs. The identified shortfalls compromised patient safety. However the trust responded promptly when we identified the concern.”
Professor Richards said that the high number of cancelled operations was due to congestion within the hospital.
The hospital had taken the decision to open escalation beds, which increased bed capacity but put more pressure on services.
Patient discharges from critical care were also delayed.
New NHS England statistics, published yesterday, show that rates of bed occupancy and cancelled operations have increased in the past year. The NHS as a whole is also facing a 5.9% clinical staffing shortage.
Overall, Southend was rated ‘requires improvement’ for being safe, responsive and well-led and ‘good’ for being effective and caring.
The leadership in urgent and emergency services, however, received an ‘outstanding’ rating.
The CQC also highlighted a number of areas of outstanding practice, including stroke service patient outcomes, the early rehabilitation and nursing team, and the introduction of a new initiative to allow staff to raise safety concerns and a patient ambassador group.
Professor Richards added: “The trust leadership knows what it needs to do to bring about improvement and our inspectors will return at a later date to check on what progress has been made.”
Sue Hardy, chief executive at the hospital, said: “I am absolutely delighted that this report recognises the fantastic, caring and compassionate nature of our staff.
“We have been honest about the improvements we are making here at Southend and the report reflects the things we told the CQC inspection team we were working to change.”
In 2014, Monitor described Southend’s A&E department as “one of the worst performing in the country.”
Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an NHE columnist? If so, click here.