England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has found improvement in the quality of services for patients during the latest inspection of Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
A team of inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited the trust during January and February 2018 to check the quality of four core services: maternity, gynaecology, medical care, and outpatients. CQC also looked specifically at management and leadership toanswer the key question: Is the trust well led?
The trust is now rated as Outstanding for being responsive to people’s needs, Good for being caring, effective, and safe. Overall the trust retains its original rating of Good.
Full details of the ratings are available on our website.
Inspectors found particular improvements in the hospital’s maternity department with innovative approaches to providing person-centred care that involved other service providers. An energetic and ambitious workforce took accountability and ownership for changes within the department. Staff were responsive to patients’ requests, with adjustments being made where possible to allowed patients with specific individual needs to access care. CQC has rated maternity services as Outstanding.
Within the outpatients department, there was strong, clear leadership and staff said they felt well managed and well-led. Staff told inspectors the matron and senior nurses were visible and supportive within the department, they felt valued, listened to and respected. The matron in outpatients was a finalist in national awards for innovation after developing a safer staffing tool in use across the trust.
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector for Hospital Inspection, Amanda Stanford, said:
“Since our comprehensive inspection of Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in 2013 some of the quality initiatives such as the achieving excellence programme have matured. We have found ample evidence of improvements, leading us to improve the rating for safe in medical care and oncology.
“Maternity services have also been using innovative methods to improve the experience of patients, including providing integrated person-centred care that involves other providers. One notable example of this is the introduction of midwives in the call centres at the local ambulance trust to ensure women receive the best care and attention when they need it.
“I am confident the staff will continue to work on further areas of improvement on behalf of all their patients. I congratulate all concerned on the progress that we have seen.”
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I congratulate all concerned on the progress that we have seen
Amanda Stanford, Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals