Chief Inspector of Hospitals publishes report on the quality of care provided by Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has published a follow-up report on the quality of care provided by Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

CQC undertook an inspection in March 2015 of the areas previously rated as requiring improvement in 2014. A review of the trust’s critical care service was also undertaken due to concerns received about the leadership and responsiveness of the service. Improvements had been made in A&E, medicine and surgery since CQC last inspected and all areas received a rating of ‘Good’.

The overall rating for Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust remains as ‘Good’. Improvements were needed in the critical care service due to staffing shortages in the outreach team, responsiveness on patient pathways and leadership. The rating for this service overall has changed from ‘Good’ to ‘Requires Improvement’. However, this does not affect the trust’s overall rating of ‘Good’.

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

“We found Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was providing a good service to its patients overall. We saw that significant changes had been implemented across medical care, surgery services and medicines management but improvements are needed in the critical care service. We have told the trust where it needs to make changes and the trust’s leadership knows what it must now do to ensure those improvements take place.

“During the inspection there were significant delays on occasions in discharging patients from critical care unit which impacted on the responsiveness of the service. The pace of change within critical care, although improving, required further work to ensure that patients receive a timely service.

“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. Our inspectors will return to check on progress at the trust in the future.”

The inspection team found several areas of outstanding practice across the services inspected. These included the preparedness of staff for major or emergency incidents in the medical care areas; staff were aware of their responsibilities and were engaged with the trust’s processes. In addition, staff development in the A&E department was innovative and several individuals had progressed to consultant level at a time when there is a national shortage of A&E medical staff.

In addition, CQC found some areas where improvements should be made, including:

• The critical care service must improve the recording of medicines administration and storage and prescription of oxygen.
• In escalation areas, governance from executive level to the local wards and departments must be more visible and risk assessments and service plans made available to staff providing direct patient care.
• Staffing and management structures need reviewing for the critical care outreach service to ensure that an appropriate number of outreach staff are on duty for each shift.

Full reports for the trust are published on CQC’s website today and are available via the following link: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RDD.

Ends

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