Care regulator removes conditions on Medway NHS Foundation Trust, and presses for further improvement

18 November 2010

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has lifted conditions which it had imposed on Medway NHS Foundation Trust after inspectors found the trust had made progress to improve services.

When CQC introduced a new registration system in April, the trust was registered with conditions because it was not meeting four essential standards of quality and safety. CQC gave hospital managers strict deadlines to make a series of improvements.

In a report published today, CQC highlights the action taken by the trust to improve standards, and a summary of remaining concerns where further improvement is required.

The four conditions which were imposed in April were:

• The trust must ensure that staff who have contact with children or vulnerable adults in the course of their duties have received training in adult safeguarding and child protection.
• The trust must have a system for assessing the capacity of patients to consent to treatment is in place and that staff are trained to effectively use this.
• The trust must ensure that clinical governance and audit systems, to assess and monitor the quality of services provided, are in place across all services.
• The trust must have an effective system for reporting, investigating and disseminating learning from incidents.

The trust applied for the conditions to be removed earlier this year, by the agreed deadlines, and provided evidence to show what action it had taken:

• All eligible staff had received training in the Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty. This ensured that staff were able to effectively assess a patient’s ability to consent to treatment.
• All eligible staff had attended safeguarding vulnerable adults training and child protection training.
• A patient safety group reported a reduction in the number of patients acquiring pressure sores as a result of pressure sore assessment and staff acting on and sharing findings
• Active staff recruitment for nursing and medical staff; the chief operating officer role has also been filled
• A backlog of assessments of serious untoward incidents have been cleared by an increase in staff and IT resources

Inspectors have now reviewed the trust’s progress against conditions and concluded that these can now be lifted.

But today’s report notes that inspectors still have some concerns with the trust’s compliance with five of the essential standards of quality and safety. CQC has told the trust that it must provide a report showing how it will maintain compliance.

Roxy Boyce, Regional Director for the Care Quality Commission in the South East said it was clear that the trust has worked hard to address breaches in compliance.

She said: "Earlier in the year we had concerns with a range of issues from bed management to recruitment of medical staff and the management of nursing vacancies and use of agency staff. These are fundamentals that all trusts need to have in place to ensure safe and quality outcomes for patients.

"There was a large backlog of serious incidents which had not been assessed so we are pleased to see that they now have systems in place for incident reporting, investigating and disseminating information.

"There is no doubt that Medway NHS Foundation trust has made substantial progress to address these issues - but we need to see further evidence of sustained improvement to be sure that these changes will make a difference to the people who depend on their services.

"The trust has now been asked to provide us with a plan showing how it will improve further and we will continue to monitor the trust to ensure that they are taking appropriate action to address our remaining concerns.”

Ends

For further information please contact Kalpana Chauhan on 0207 448 9239. Alternatively, contact the CQC press office on 0207 448 9401 or out of hours on 07917 232 143.

Notes to editors

A moderate concern remains with regard to the management of leadership and clinical governance. The trust has been asked to provide a report showing how it will maintain compliance.