England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has welcomed improvements in the care of patients using the accident and emergency department at Southmead Hospital in Bristol.
The A and E department had previously been rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission. But following its latest inspection – the department, part of North Bristol NHS Trust, has been rated Good.
The hospital provides emergency care and treatment to more than 100,000 adults a year. Figures from the NHS national trauma audit and research network, have shown that Southmead Hospital had the best survival rate of any trauma centre in England and Wales for 2015.
The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:
“A year ago I was seriously concerned at the safety of the urgent and emergency services. We warned North Bristol NHS Trust that it must take action to deal with demand in the emergency department, where patients were waiting too long to be assessed and treated.
"I am encouraged by the findings of this inspection. There is still work to be done to improve how patients move through the hospital - but the trust can be proud of the improvements they have managed to date. I am pleased that staff continue to work well together and were kind, caring and focused on their patients."
A team of CQC inspectors carried out an inspection of the North Bristol NHS Trust during December to follow up on the areas that had been rated as Inadequate and Requires Improvement on inspection in November 2014.
Overall the trust is still rated as Requires Improvement. However, there were notable improvements in many services.
Inspectors found several areas of outstanding practice across the trust, including:
Patients with dementia received care and treatment that was sympathetic and knowledgeable. There were 100 dementia champions within the trust and a focus on environmental changes to support patients.
The bereavement midwife visited women in the Central Delivery Suite and also followed women up at home, vising after the normal time limit for postnatal care. Family support was also offered for subsequent pregnancies A pharmacist worked In the pre-admission clinic to review medications of patients who were about to undergo surgery to reduce the number of operations which may otherwise have to be cancelled.
Sir Mike continued:
“Staff were positive about working at the trust and they were encouraged to talk, email and tweet about why they were proud of their trust.
“The executive team impressed us in their development since our last inspection. Frontline staff and managers were passionate about providing a high quality service for patients with a continual drive to improve the delivery of care.
"There are some areas for improvement - and I will continue to monitor the trust's performance, but overall the trust should be congratulated for continuing to make progress."
Inspectors found areas where improvements were needed including:
The trust must improve patient flow within the hospital and ensure that there is a robust hospital-wide system of bed management so as to, significantly reduce delays in patient flow through the emergency department; reduce occupancy to recommended levels within medical services; and, ensure that there is capacity within the hospital so that patients can be admitted to and discharged from critical care at the optimal time for their health and well-being.
The trust must ensure patient information remains confidential through appropriate storage of records in the outpatient clinics and theatre departments to prevent unauthorised people from having access to them.
The reports which CQC publishes today are based on a combination of its inspection findings, information from CQC’s Intelligent Monitoring system, and information provided by patients, the public and other organisations.
A team of CQC inspectors and specialists including doctors, nurses, managers and experts by experience spent four days at the trust in December 2015. CQC has published separate reports on the services provided by the trust and full reports including ratings for all core services are available at: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RVJ
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Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at North Bristol NHS Trust