England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has told Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust that it must take urgent action in order to address the quality of its urgent and emergency care services.
A team of inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth unannounced on 28 February and 1 March in response to concerns about the safety and quality of patient care during the winter months
CQC inspectors are due to return to the hospital this week as part of a full inspection of the trust’s core services.
During December, January and February the trust experienced extreme operational pressures. An increased demand for services, a high incidence of flu, and difficulties discharging patients into the community resulted in high bed occupancy, and insufficient capacity in the hospital. This led to crowding and extended waits in the emergency department and resulted in patients being cared for in unsuitable outlying areas of the hospital, putting patients at risk
The emergency department was frequently crowded; patients were cared for in corridors and in ambulances outside the emergency department. Patients experienced delays in their assessment, treatment and admission to a hospital bed.
A significant number of patients waited up to 12 hours in the emergency department before they were admitted. The trust’s performance was significantly worse than the England average.
Inpatients were frequently cared for in unsuitable outlying areas of the hospital. This meant they were admitted to a ward in a speciality other than that which they were assigned to.
Planning for the winter had not begun soon enough. The trust’s winter resilience plan had not been effective and had not yielded sufficient inpatient capacity and flow to manage the significant pressures the trust faced during the winter months
The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said:
“I am aware that following our previous inspections, there has been a renewed focus to improve performance; a number of work streams have been developed with system partners to address major issues with patient flow and operational performance. It is clear that these changes have not yet been fully embedded. We are reassured that the trust is now working with commissioners across the local health and social care system to develop plans for next winter.
“In the meantime the trust must take urgent action to address the concerns that have been highlighted during our latest inspection.
“We have made it clear to the trust where it must take further action to improve urgent and emergency care. We will continue to monitor the service to ensure improvements are made.
“We will be conducting a more in depth inspection of urgent and emergency care when we go back to the Queen Alexandra Hospital as part of our comprehensive inspection of trust services.”
Full details of the inspection findings are contained in the report available on our website.
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We have made it clear to the trust where it must take further action to improve urgent and emergency care
Professor Ted Baker, Chief Inspector of Hospitals