England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has welcomed improvements in the quality of services for patients during an inspection of Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust. As a result of the inspection, the trust is now rated as Good overall.
A team of inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited the trust in June 2018 to check the quality of five core services: urgent and emergency services, medical care, critical care, children and young people’s services and maternity services. CQC also looked specifically at management and leadership to answer the key question: Is the trust well led?
Previously in March 2016, the trust was rated Outstanding for being caring, Good for being effective and well led and Requires Improvement for being safe and responsive to people’s needs and well led. As a result of this inspection the trust is now rated as Outstanding for being caring and Good for being safe, effective, well led and Requires Improvement for being and responsive to people’s needs.
CQC has also published the trust’s Use of Resources report, which is based on an assessment undertaken by NHS Improvement. The trust has been rated as Good for using its resources productively.
Maternity services improved its overall rating to Outstanding. Women using the service felt included with all aspects of care and there was strong evidence that compassionate care had consistently been provided to parents which often-exceeded expectations. Care was led by parents needs and extended appointments were offered when required. There was an embedded culture and emphasis throughout the service and at all locations of providing understanding and compassionate care and support.
Critical care services have improved to Good. Inspectors found sufficient numbers of staff to meet patient needs. There were good arrangements to protect people from abuse and neglect and there was a positive incident reporting culture on the unit, with staff describing incidents as opportunities to learn.
Urgent and emergency care remained Requires Improvement. The trust had failed to make any meaningful improvement on key areas that impact on safe care in the emergency department since the previous inspection in March 2016. The department was still over-crowded, patients were still waiting too long on trolleys and the risks were still concentrated on the emergency department, rather than being shared through the system. The actions taken by the senior leadership team and departmental managers have not delivered lasting improvement.
The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said:
“Since we last inspected, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust has taken strides to improve in most areas and I want to congratulate them from moving from Requires Improvement to achieving their Good rating. Although, there is still work to do especially within the urgent and emergency department.
“The trust board have a clear vision and a credible strategy to deliver high quality, sustainable care to people who use services. There was active engagement with staff, patients and carers, and innovation was encouraged and accepted.
“We will continue to monitor the trust’s performance and we will return at a later date to check on progress.”
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust has taken strides to improve in most areas and I want to congratulate them from moving from Requires Improvement to achieving their Good rating
Professor Ted Baker, Chief Inspector of Hospitals