- NHS hospital
Milton Keynes Hospital
Report from 22 October 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings - Urgent and emergency services
Our view of the service
Date of assessment 10 April 2024 The inspection was prompted in part by notification of an incident following which a person using the service died. The information shared with CQC about the incident indicated potential concerns about the quality and safety of the service. These concerns were examined during our assessment. We inspected 19 quality statements across the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. The scores for these areas have led to a good rating for the service. The service managed patient safety incidents well and learnt from them. Staff understood how to protect patients from abuse. Staff worked with partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed, monitored and assured. The service had a systematic programme of clinical and internal audits. Staff demonstrated respect for people’s privacy and dignity, and treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion. People could mostly access care and treatment when they needed it. Leaders listened to feedback from staff and made improvements. Staff felt supported in their roles. However, the service did not always have safe systems for appropriate and safe handling of medicines. Patients did not always have their time crucial medicines prescribed in a timely manner. The environment and equipment did not always keep people safe. Mental health triage forms were not always completed for all patients who required them on arrival to ED, and some staff were not aware of this process. Medical staffing levels were not always in line with national guidance. Leaders did not always operate effective governance processes.
People's experience of this service
Patients told us they felt safe. They said they were seen quickly when they arrived by trained nursing staff to find out more about why they had attended the emergency department (triage). Mental health patients were triaged, and risk assessed quickly. We were told that young people could wait for assessment from mental health specialists and to find available mental health beds. Patients said there was a lack of privacy when they were giving their information at the main reception. Patients told us they could access the service when needed and those patients who did not speak English as a first language were triaged using translations services.