Chief Inspector of Hospitals publishes report on the quality of care provided by Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has published a report on the quality of care provided by Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital became a foundation trust in 2005. The hospital serves five local districts with a population of approximately 441,000 people. The inspection was carried out in two parts; an announced visit which took place over four days in April and an unannounced visit which took place during the evening of 2 May 2015.

Under its inspection model, CQC has given individual ratings to each of the core services at the trust; urgent and emergency services, medical care, surgery, critical care, maternity and gynaecology, services for children and young people and end of life care.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ overall.

The trust was rated as ‘Good’ for whether its services were effective and caring and rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ for whether its services were safe, well-led and responsive. The core service of children and young people’s services was rated as ‘Outstanding’ in relation to whether it was well-led.

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

“Our inspectors found that some improvements were needed at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. We have seen that progress has already been made and we found several areas of outstanding practice.

“Since our inspection we have been monitoring the trust and working closely with Monitor and other stakeholders, such as the local Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England. “The trust leadership knows what it needs to do to bring about improvement and our inspectors will return at a later date to check on what progress has been made.”

Full reports for the trust will be published on CQC’s website today at the following link: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RFS.

Across the trust, the inspection team found several areas where improvements must be made, including:

• The trust must ensure there is appropriate and timely monitoring of deteriorating patients within the HDU department.
• People who lack capacity to make decisions about their care must have an adequate assessment of their mental capacity, and decisions about DNACPR are taken in line with the requirements of the Mental Capacity Act (2005).
• An accurate record must be kept for each baby, child, and young person, including information relating to the care and treatment provided.
• A senior children’s nurse must be available during the 24-hour period to provide the necessary support to the nursing team.
• Resuscitation trolleys and equipment must be checked, maintained, and fit for purpose in all clinical areas.
• All staff involved in caring for patients at the end of life must complete the necessary training in this area.

Inspectors also witnessed some outstanding practice across the trust, including:

• Staff in the x-ray department were able to view the electronic patient information screen held in the emergency department. This meant they knew when patients were awaiting x-ray and responded promptly, usually within 20 minutes of the request being entered.
• Locum doctors received quarterly reviews with an educational supervisor.
• As a pilot fixed term project, a pharmacist worked in the A&E department to support all aspects of medicines management. Data showed this was beneficial to patients and sped up admission processes.
• The trust had a clear vision of how its clinical environments could be dementia friendly. This vision was exemplified in the refurbishment of the discharge lounge.
• Children attending appointments at The Den could watch 3D short films designed to calm and distract them. This was particularly useful for children with a learning disability or autistic spectrum disorder, or those who were anxious.

CQC’s inspection team informed the trust of its findings immediately after the inspection so that it could take steps to make any improvements.

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.

Ends

For media enquiries, call Regional Engagement Officer, Helen Gildersleeve on 0191 233 3379. For media enquiries about the Care Quality Commission, please call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here. (please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters).

For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.