England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust as Requires Improvement overall following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust was previously rated as Requires Improvement following an inspection in September 2018. On CQC’s return in November and December 2019 it was found that improvement was still needed and the trust rating remains as Requires Improvement overall.
The trust was also rated as Good for being effective, caring and well-led. It is rated Requires Improvement for being safe and responsive.
CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said:
“Our inspectors found a number of improvements were still needed when they returned to Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust.
“Although urgent and emergency care had made improvements, we had concerns about its safety and responsiveness.
“Patients could not always access treatments in a timely manner in line with national standards. The trust was underperforming for a range of specialties to meet the national standards for the national 18-week referral to treatment times and 62-day cancer waits to treatment.
“However, we found that the trust was focused on planning for the future in line with its sustainability and transformation plans and we found areas of outstanding practice in medical care, surgery, maternity and gynaecology.
“We were pleased that improvements had been made in some areas, particularly in medical care which we rated Good this time from the previous rating of Inadequate. The trust’s overall rating for being effective also went up from Requires Improvement to Good.
“Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care. The service had an open culture where patients, their families and staff could raise concerns without fear.
“Leaders operated effective governance processes, throughout the service and with partner organisations. Staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities and had regular opportunities to meet, discuss and learn from the performance of the service.
“The trust’s leadership knows what it must do to ensure it improves its services and we will continue to monitor its progress, which will include further inspections.”
The trust has been told it must make a number of improvements, including:
- The trust must ensure sepsis documentation is compliant with national guidance within urgent and emergency care.
- There must be sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff within surgery.
- Sepsis documentation must be compliant with national guidance within urgent and emergency care.
- The trust must ensure that all relevant staff are up to date with safeguarding children level three training within outpatients.
- Patient records within surgery must be secure, accurate and contemporaneous.
Inspectors witnessed some areas of outstanding practice across the trust, including:
- The medical care service had developed a game for patients with called "Either, neither or both" to help initiate conversations with patients. Staff providing one to one care or meaningful time with a patient used this game to enhance conversation and stimulate dialogue.
- The trust introduced a virtual dementia tour for staff. This was an eight minute immersive experience enabling staff to gain empathy and greater understanding when interacting with patients living with dementia. All staff could enrol onto the course as any staff member potentially will have contact with people living with dementia.
- The maternity service was especially caring and responsive to parents who had suffered a pregnancy loss, such as stillbirth or neonatal death. Staff were committed to continually improving the care and services they provided for bereaved parents. In December 2019, the maternity bereavement team won a national award and were praised for demonstrating leadership and compassion for women, partners and families and inspiring their colleagues.
- The gynaecology ward managed ward meetings, clinical supervision, mandatory training and the appraisal process well. All ward nursing staff attended a team meeting and clinical supervision day every two months. This process provided time for appraisal and mandatory training completion.
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust provides local elective and emergency services to people living in and around the districts of Chelmsford, Maldon and Braintree.
Full reports for the trust have been published on CQC’s website at the following link: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RQ8
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