England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the services provided by Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust as Requires Improvement following inspections by the Care Quality Commission.
A team of inspectors visited urgent and emergency care, surgery, medicines and maternity services between November and December 2017. CQC also looked specifically at management and leadership to answer the key question: Is the trust well led?
Inspectors rated the trust as Requires Improvement overall. It was rated Good for being caring and Requires Improvement for being effective, responsive and well-led.
Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said:
“We found at this inspection of Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, that governance needed improving and the board was not always consistently provided with assurance about the quality of care. However, the executive team demonstrated a good insight into the organisation and a drive to take the trust forward."
“Inspectors observed many areas where good and outstanding practice was being carried out. Staff cared for patients with compassion and treated them with dignity and respect."
“In medicine and urgent and emergency care, there were not enough systems, processes or staff with safeguarding knowledge in place to protect adults and children from the risks of abuse, especially at weekends. Sensitive information collected around safeguarding was not held securely or kept confidential."
“Despite this there was a system in place to monitor and safeguard vulnerable patients with mental health problems who frequently attended the emergency department."
“We have been in regular contact with the trust and their leadership who have provided assurances that a plan is in place to bring about improvements in the areas identified in our report. Our inspectors will return at a later date to check on what progress has been made.”
Full details of the ratings, including a ratings grid, are given in the report published on our website.
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