Chief Inspector of Hospitals publishes report on the quality of care provided at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has published a report showing improvement in the quality of care at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals.

The hospital’s surgery, maternity and gynaecology and outpatients and diagnostic imaging services, were inspected in February this year to follow up on an inspection of April and May 2015.

At that time the hospital had been rated Inadequate and the trust, Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, was rated Inadequate overall and placed in to special measures.

Now, following CQC’s inspection, Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals is rated Requires Improvement.

The ratings for both maternity and gynaecology and outpatients and diagnostic imaging services have moved from Inadequate to Requires Improvement. And, while surgery remains rated Requires Improvement, inspectors witnessed improvements to the service during their visit.

CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:

“We were pleased to see improvements had been made to surgery, maternity and gynaecology and outpatients and diagnostic imaging services at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals when we returned. However, further work is needed to ensure the standards of care meet those which people should be able to expect.

“Our inspectors found there had been a review of midwifery staffing, which led to an increase of midwifes and health care support workers. Governance in maternity had improved with a clear view of the unit’s risks and key performance data now being collected, although inspectors were concerned there was no long term plan to manage capacity and demand in maternity.

“The outpatients department had worked to ensure patients were seen in a timely way and new leadership had a clear view of the risks in the department and a strategy for addressing them.

“Inspectors also gave feedback to the trust on where it must make improvements. This included making sure all staff in maternity are compliant with mandatory training, that neonatal early warning observations are completed, recorded and responded to and that staff receive feedback on incidents and are aware of their responsibilities under Duty of Candour.

“People deserve to be treated in services which are safe, caring, effective, well-led, and responsive to their needs and this is what we look at when we carry out our inspections.

“It is always encouraging to see improvements to services and the trust knows what it now needs to do to make further improvements. Meanwhile, our inspectors will continue to monitor progress at the trust, which will include further inspections.

“Our new strategy, published this week, sets out how we’ll be making increasing use of these shorter, more focussed inspections where we have concerns – so we can go in quickly to make sure that improvements are being made and people are protected. We’ll still conduct full comprehensive inspections where necessary, but new technology and better use of information will help us target our inspections more tightly than ever to where people may be at risk of poor care.”

A full report of our inspectors’ findings can be found on CQC’s website, here: www.cqc.org.uk/location/RGT01

Ends

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