News

15.04.16

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole FT failing to maintain improvements

An NHS trust that was taken out of special measures has been given a ‘requires improvement’ notice after the CQC found it is failing to maintain the improvements.

Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS FT was taken out of special measures in July 2014 after making improvements including recruiting 198 more clinical staff. However, the CQC said that A&E and critical care were still below recommended staffing levels.

There were particular concerns about outpatient treatment at Diana Princess of Wales Hospital and Scunthorpe General Hospital, both of which were rated inadequate.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, the CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, said: “We found that the services in A&E at Scunthorpe, outpatients and surgical services had either not improved or had deteriorated since our last inspection.”

The trust was rated as ‘requires improvement’ in the domains of safe, effective, responsive and well-led, although it was judged ‘good’ for being caring. The CQC said that although the trust had good governance procedures, these were not widely embedded or understood.

The regulator’s report said that there were shortages of nurses at the trust, with two nurses on most wards overnight, one of whom was typically from a nursing bank or agency. This led to delayed care and nurses not being familiar with how the trust worked.

It also said that there was a 30,000 backlog of patients requiring outpatient follow-up and many patients experienced multiple clinical cancellations, although the trust had taken action to review the backlog by the end of 2015.

There was a lack of sufficient specialist staff for dealing with vulnerable patients, including those with dementia and learning disabilities, and staff did not receive learning and feedback from incidents.

The Summary Hospital-led Mortality Indicator for the trust was 111, above the national average of 100, and the trust was a mortality outlier for deaths from acute bronchitis and cardiac dysrhythmias.

The CQC announced a review this week of how all acute, community and mental health trusts learn from the deaths of vulnerable patients, following the scandal at Southern Health FT.

They also raised health and safety concerns about the Scunthorpe emergency room, including ligature points which could be used by suicidal patients and a lack of accessibility for patients on trolleys.

They said that Northern Lincolnshire and Goole must immediately ensure sufficient numbers of staff and address the patient backlog.

Karen Jackson, CEO of the trust, said: “This is a report into an inspection that took place nearly six months ago. The CQC’s own standards recommend such reports are published within 50 working days of the inspection so that the reports are as current and useful as possible to service providers and patients. As our patients and staff would expect, the Trust has already taken significant steps to address the issues identified at the inspections, some of which took place as long ago as October 2015."

(Image c. Calendar News)

Comments

There are no comments. Why not be the first?

Add your comment

national health executive tv

more videos >

latest news

View all News

comment

NHS England dementia director prescribes rugby for mental health and dementia patients

23/09/2019NHS England dementia director prescribes rugby for mental health and dementia patients

Reason to celebrate as NHS says watching rugby can be good for your mental ... more >
Peter Kyle MP: It’s time to say thank you this Public Service Day

21/06/2019Peter Kyle MP: It’s time to say thank you this Public Service Day

Taking time to say thank you is one of the hidden pillars of a society. Bei... more >

editor's comment

26/06/2020Adapting and Innovating

Matt Roberts, National Health Executive Editorial Lead. NHE May/June 2020 Edition We’ve been through so much as a health sector and a society in recent months with coronavirus and nothing can take away from the loss and difficulties that we’ve faced but it vital we also don’t disregard the amazing efforts we’ve witnessed. Staff have gone above and beyond, whole hospitals and trusts have flexed virtually at will to meet demand and pressures and we’ve... read more >

last word

Haseeb Ahmad: ‘We all have a role to play in getting innovations quicker’

Haseeb Ahmad: ‘We all have a role to play in getting innovations quicker’

Haseeb Ahmad, president of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), sits down with National Health Executive as part of our Last Word Q&A series. Would you talk us throu more > more last word articles >

interviews

Matt Hancock says GP recruitment is on the rise to support ‘bedrock of the NHS’

24/10/2019Matt Hancock says GP recruitment is on the rise to support ‘bedrock of the NHS’

Today, speaking at the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) annual... more >

the scalpel's daily blog

Covid-19 can signal a new deal with the public on health

28/08/2020Covid-19 can signal a new deal with the public on health

Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive, NHS Employers & Deputy Chief Executive, NHS Confederation The common enemy of coronavirus united the public side by side wi... more >
read more blog posts from 'the scalpel' >

healthcare events

events calendar

back

September 2020

forward
mon tue wed thu fri sat sun
31 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11

featured articles

View all News