Chief Inspector of Hospitals finds improvements at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust but more work is needed

England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the services provided by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust as Requires Improvement overall following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

When the trust was inspected in September 2015 inspectors found significant improvements were needed and the trust was rated Inadequate and placed in to special measures.

CQC carried out its most recent inspection on 31 May and between 20 and 22 June 2017. When inspectors visited this time they found a number of improvements had been made but that more work was needed to ensure the trust met the standards people should be able to expect.

The trust is now rated as Requires Improvement overall as well as for whether services are safe, effective, responsive and well-led. The trust is rated as Good for whether the services provided were caring.

CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said:

“When we inspected Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust we found a number of improvements had been made since our last inspection, but that further work was needed."

“During our inspection we highlighted concerns regarding the trust’s maternity services and, as a result, the trust was issued with a warning. This required the trust to make improvements within a set timescale and it supplied an action plan detailing its plans for ensuring improvements are made to the service."

“We also found a number of areas of good and outstanding practice at the trust."

“We were particularly impressed with community health services which we have rated as Outstanding overall. The staff in this area are to be commended for their hard word in achieving this."

“While it was clear improvements had been made, I am recommending the trust remains in special measures so it can continue its work in making improvements to its services with support."

“The trust knows what it must now do to deliver the necessary improvements on behalf of all of their patients and we will return to check on the progress that they make.”

Several areas of good practice were highlighted during CQC’s inspection, including:

• Staff and patients’ relatives told us the dementia lead nurse for the emergency department had made significant improvements for patients living with dementia while they were being cared for in the department.
• The end of life care service provided access to care and treatment in both the acute and community settings 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
• The culture within the outpatients department had changed considerably for the better and staff took responsibility and ownership for their own areas and specialities.
• Community engagement by the Walsall Palliative Care Centre was exemplary.
• The teenage pregnancy service had developed a website called ‘Easy SRE’, a toolkit of resources to support sex and relationship education.
• The speech and language therapy team, nursery nurses and transition team had been nominated for national awards in the community health services for children, young people and families.
• Within community health services for adults, an alert system had been developed to immediately notify the long-term condition teams when vulnerable adults attended the accident and emergency department or wards at Walsall Manor Hospital.

The trust has also been told it must make improvements in the following areas:

• Risks must be explained when obtaining consent from women for procedures in maternity and gynaecology.
• Action plans for serious incidents must be monitored and managed.
• Lessons need to be shared effectively to enable staff learning from serious incidents, incidents and complaints.
• The emergency department (ED) must complete the action plan compiled following the CQC inspection in September 2015.
• The trust must ensure all staff have undertaken mandatory training and safeguarding training to the appropriate level for their role.
• Patient records must be kept secure at all times.
• There must be sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff to keep patients safe.
• The safeguarding adults and safeguarding children policies must be up-to-date and include relevant references to external guidance.
• Blind cords must be secured in all areas where children and young people may attend.

Full reports including ratings for all of the provider’s core services are available on our website.

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