The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has welcomed improvements in the quality of services for patients during an inspection of East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.
A team of inspectors from the CQC visited Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne District General Hospital in November 2019 and visited both acute and community areas. In the acute setting inspectors looked at end of life care, services for children and young people and outpatients. In the community setting inspectors visited the community end of life service and community adults service. CQC also looked specifically at management and leadership to answer the key question: Is the trust well-led?
The trust has worked hard to embed and sustain improvements. Previously the trust was rated as Requires Improvement. The trust is now rated as Good overall. It is also rated as Outstanding for being caring and effective, and Good for being safe, responsive and well-led.
CQC has also published the trust’s Use of Resources (UoR) report, which is based on an assessment undertaken by NHS Improvement. The trust has been rated as Requires Improvement for using its resources productively. The combined rating for the trust’s quality and UoR is Good.
You can read the latest reports in full here: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RXC, once the report has been published on the CQC website.
Nigel Acheson, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals in the South, said:
“I am pleased to report that since our last inspection we have found good evidence that the trust is making steady progress. In our most recent inspection we were encouraged by the sustained and embedded improvements that have been made by the trust.
“The trust has been on a journey of improvement and progress which has been made both clinically, in the trust’s governance structures and in its culture. This is evidenced in end of life care and community health services for adults both now improved from Requires Improvement to Outstanding.
“Services at Conquest Hospital have jumped from Requires Improvement overall to Outstanding and this is only to be applauded.
“There are some areas that still require attention and we will return to check these. But I want to congratulate the staff and leadership team for the work they have done to date.”
End of Life care had jumped from Requires Improvement to Outstanding. Within the service there was a strong culture that was centred on the needs of patients at the end of their life. Managers across the trust promoted a positive culture that supported and valued staff. This created a sense of common purpose based on shared values to deliver high quality person-centred care. Services were tailored to meet the needs of individual and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility and choice. This meant that services met people’s needs. The service was inclusive and took account of patients’ preferences. Staff made reasonable adjustments to help patients access services and co-ordinated care with other services and providers.
In children’s services which is now rated as Good, an “excellence in care” model was introduced. This was an accreditation system to assess the quality of care and risks on individual wards and departments. There were nine outcomes related to safety, access, finance, leadership and delivery. Staff told inspectors they had seen changes implemented and were kept informed of planned changes.
Outpatients staff planned care to meet the needs of local people and took account of patients’ individual needs. This made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
Community health services for adults has jumped from Requires Improvement to Outstanding. Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness while taking account of their individual needs. Patients told inspectors staff went the extra mile to provide care the care they needed. All staff were committed to continually learning and improving services. Leaders encouraged innovation.
Community end of life care managed patient safety incidents well. Staff recognised and reported any incidents and near misses. Managers investigated the incidents and any shared lessons learned with the whole team and the wider service. When things went wrong, staff gave patients honest information, the right support and apologised.
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