England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated South Warwickshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as Outstanding overall following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
CQC inspectors visited the trust between 20 August and 25 September 2019 as part of a routine inspection.
The trust was seen to have made several improvements since its last inspection in January 2018, when it was rated as Good overall. It is now rated as being Outstanding for being responsive and well-led. It is rated as Good for whether services are safe, effective and caring.
Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said:
“On our return to South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust we found further improvements had been made since our previous inspection and I’m delighted that the trust is now rated as Outstanding overall.
“During our inspection we noted many areas of outstanding practice. Inspectors were particularly impressed by the strength of leadership at the trust. The trust’s desire to drive service improvement for the benefit of patients, carers, and the wider system was evident throughout the inspection.
“Staff at all levels were clear and passionate about their roles and accountabilities and had regular opportunities to meet, discuss and learn. The trust engaged well with patients, families, the local community and external partners to help improve services.
“Staff treated patients and their families with great compassion and kindness and always took account of their individual needs. Patients and their families were truly respected, and staff found innovative ways to provide emotional support to minimise any distress.
“We did identify a small number of areas where the trust could make further improvements. Overwhelmingly, however, we found a trust that provides excellent care and they should be commended for this. The trust board and all staff are to be congratulated for their hard work in achieving such high standards across services.”
Leaders had the experience, commitment, integrity and skills to run a high quality and proactive service that was fully patient-centred. Senior leaders made sure they visited all parts of the trust and fed back to the board to discuss challenges with openness and candour.
The trust actively promoted equality and diversity in daily work and provided opportunities for career development. There was an open and transparent culture where patients, their families and staff could raise concerns without fear.
All staff were committed to continually learning and improving services. Inspectors were provided with a wide range of examples of these during the inspection.
For example, the trust was working collaboratively with the local mental health NHS trust to establish a four weekly rolling programme to discuss and develop individualised action plans to reduce the attendances of high intensity users with mental health issues.
Full details of CQC’s inspection, its ratings for the trust, including a ratings grid, are given in the report published online at: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RJC
Ends
For media enquiries call, regional engagement manager, Louise Grifferty on 07717 422 917. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here www.cqc.org.uk/media/our-media-office (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.
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) provides acute hospital and community health services for approximately 220,000 people in South Warwickshire and the surrounding areas. The trust provides district general hospital services at Warwick Hospital.
The trust provides acute inpatients care and treatment for specialties including cardiology, colorectal surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, geriatric medicine, gynaecology, haematology, neurology, ophthalmology, paediatrics, respiratory conditions, stroke and trauma and orthopaedics.
Whenever CQC inspects we will always ask the following five questions: Is it safe? Is it effective? Is it caring? Is it responsive to people’s needs? Is it well-led?
Under CQC’s current programme of inspections, we aim to inspect every NHS trust at least once between June 2017 and spring 2019. We use information that we hold on each trust to inform our decision about when and what to inspect.
During the unannounced inspection we will normally look in detail at certain core services - based on previous inspection findings, as well as wider intelligence - followed by an inspection of how well-led a provider is. Our previous inspections of NHS trusts have shown a strong link between the quality of overall management of a trust and the quality of its services.
Each inspection team is led by a member of CQC’s staff and includes specialist professional advisors such as clinicians and pharmacists. Where appropriate, an inspection team will also include Experts by Experience. These are people who have experienced care personally or experience of caring for someone who has received a particular type of care.
How CQC monitors, inspects and regulates NHS trusts: www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/nhs-trusts/when-we-will-inspect-nhs-trusts