England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the services provided by The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust as Requires Improvement following inspections by the Care Quality Commission.
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust operates acute hospital services from three hospital sites at Russells Hall hospital, Corbett Outpatient Centre and Guest Outpatient Centre. In addition, the trust provides community services in a range of community facilities across Dudley, parts of Sandwell borough and South Staffordshire and Wyre Forest.
Between 5 December and 18 January 2018, a team of CQC inspectors visited the trust’s five core services at Russells Hall Hospital and community adult services, including sexual health services.
Inspectors rated the care provided by staff to be Good regarding whether services were caring and rated it as Requires Improvement regarding whether services were safe, effective, responsive and well-led.
Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said:
“Our inspectors were disappointed that several ratings at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust had declined since we last inspected.
“Our main concerns were with what we found in the urgent and emergency services, which we rated as Inadequate overall.
“Triage processes were inconsistent and not exercised in line with the trust policy or national guidelines. Patients attending the emergency department did not always receive robust and sufficient assessment of their clinical presentation and condition. This posed a significant risk that life threatening conditions would not be identified and treated as quickly as they should have been.
“The culture within the emergency department was not open and senior staff did not recognise significant areas of risk and potential harm to patients. Governance systems were not robust and did not ensure safe and effective care was being delivered.
“The trust as a whole also needs to ensure appropriate staffing levels are maintained and to keep bank and agency staff cover to a minimum.
“Inspectors also observed areas of good practice and found patients were treated with kindness, dignity and respect across the trust.
“Patient dignity and comfort was a priority and we saw this attitude reflected in the staff working across the trust. This is why we rated the trust as Good in the caring domain overall.
“The trust leadership knows what it needs to do to bring about the necessary improvements and we will return to check on progress.”
Full details of the ratings, including a ratings grid, are given in the report available on our website.
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Our inspectors were disappointed that several ratings at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust had declined since we last inspected
Professor Ted Baker, Chief Inspector of Hospitals