Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the first children’s hospital to be rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as Outstanding following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in May.

CQC carried out an announced inspection at the trust between 17 and 20 May 2016. A further inspection was conducted out of hours on 26 May 2016.

Birmingham Children’s Hospital is a specialist paediatric centre, offering care to young patients from Birmingham, the West Midlands and beyond. Over 270,600 patients visit the hospital each year.

The inspections looked at the following core services; A&E, medical care, surgery, paediatric critical care, neonatal care, transition services, end of life care, outpatients and child and adolescent mental health services.

The trust was rated Outstanding for whether its services were caring, effective and responsive, Good for whether its services were well-led and Requires Improvement for whether its services were safe.

CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:

“I am extremely pleased to announce that Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is the first specialist children’s hospital to be rated outstanding.

“Hospitals can be stressful places at the best of times, especially for children, young people and their parents or carers so it is very pleasing to see a trust working so effectively to provide the best care.

“We were struck immediately by the culture of support and team work and how effective and well-respected the leadership was.

“100% of children referred to the hospital were seen within six weeks and no patient waited more than four hours once admitted to the trust.

“Feedback from parents and children was extremely positive, with many reporting they were treated with respect and dignity. Bereaved parents were given genuine, compassionate care with clear emotional support if a child died.

“When communicating with children, staff used language that was jargon free and easy to understand, using play, toys and nursery rhymes to maintain engagement.

“The hard work of staff across the trust is exemplary and making a real difference to the lives of children, young people and their parents across the West Midlands. The trust should be proud of this outcome.

“We did, however, find some areas where improvements were needed, particularly within neonatal care and in some areas of community mental health services. Our inspectors will return at a later date to check on the progress of these areas”.

The report highlights several areas of good and outstanding practice, including:

• Every relative, carer or patient inspectors spoke to in the emergency department said they were thankful to be seen at the hospital and praised the staff for the care and attention once in the department.
• The trust has implemented a Rare Diseases Strategy, which delivers an innovative approach for children who due to their rare or undiagnosed condition are be required to attend multiple outpatient appointments with a variety of specialities. The Rare Disease Centre will enable all clinicians involved in the care of the child to be present to provide a holistic approach in one appointment.
• The complex care team had planned a holiday to Disneyland and a cruise for two of their long-term ventilated patients and had arranged for carers to accompany the patients who would otherwise have been unable to go on the trips.
• Staff proudly informed us that the High Dependency Unit had won the ‘outstanding clinical team’ award in December 2015.
• Inspectors witnessed outstanding care from storytelling therapists who help with children’s emotions, anxiety and distress during their stay in hospital, and help to explain treatment processes to them. Following a session of storytelling therapy, one parent reported their child had not asked for their usual pain relief overnight.
• The provision of a ‘party cupboard’ demonstrated outstanding forethought and a genuine desire to make children’s stay in the hospital as pleasant as possible.
• Staff went the extra mile to provide outstanding personalised care to learning disability patients. One learning disability patient had a phobia of wearing a name tag so staff took a photograph of the patient to identify him which staff put above his bed.
• The radiology department has offered an ‘express’ MRI service since 2009. When patients attend their appointment they are admitted into radiology by a nurse, they are then anaesthetised, scanned, woken up, given a drink and then allowed to go home once medically fit. Patients spend a maximum of 2½ hours in radiology which has freed up seven beds per day. This service has won an innovation award.

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