The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found some improvements at Medway NHS Foundation Trust following its latest inspection. However, there is further work to be done.
Due to concerns about the quality of the services, inspectors carried out an unannounced focused inspection of the trust’s medical care service and its children and young people’s services. CQC also looked specifically at management and leadership to answer the key question: is the trust well-led?
The trust’s overall rating remains requires improvement. It is rated as good for being caring and requires improvement for being safe, effective, responsive and well-led. Previously the trust was rated inadequate for being well-led.
Catherine Campbell, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said:
“Following our inspection of Medway NHS Foundation Trust, we were pleased to find some improvements have taken place and were embedded. However, the trust leadership team knows there is a lot more work to do.
“Throughout the trust we found a workforce who were doing their utmost to deliver high quality patient centred care, treating people with compassion, dignity and respect. However, not all staff felt supported or listened to. There were mixed views about the openness of the culture and not all staff felt they could raise concerns without fear.
“The new chief executive had been in post for a little over three weeks at the time of our inspection. They had carried out their own diagnosis of a well-led assessment and this demonstrated clear understanding and awareness of the issues identified during our inspection.
“Although there were still a number of areas for improvement which we have advised the trust to look at, overall, this is a fairly positive report and we want to congratulate staff for ensuring these improvements were addressed and thoroughly embedded, particularly in times of high pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published on our website.
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