Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has failed to protect people’s safety and welfare

2 May 2013

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust it must make urgent improvements to comply with the national standards of quality and safety.

This follows an unannounced inspection at Kettering General Hospital in Kettering, Northamptonshire, on 7, 8 and 11 March 2013.

The inspection was carried out in response to concerns that some of the national standards of quality and safety were not being met at the hospital.

Inspectors assessed the national standards relating to cleanliness and infection control, supporting workers and assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision and found none of these were being met.

CQC has told the trust it must make improvements and inspectors will be returning in the near future to check on whether the necessary changes have been made.

What inspectors found:

Inspectors were given a number of positive comments about staff and the trust by people they spoke to, but found systems in place for the trust to check how well it was delivering its own service were not robust enough.

Audits were incomplete, action plans to make sure improvements could be made where needed were not always developed or completed and information on lessons learned by the trust, following incidents or issues, were not consistently disseminated throughout the hospital.

Some policies and procedures laid down by the trust were not always being followed and inspectors found there was no system for risk assessments of patients in the discharge area, despite the fact they could be waiting in this area for some time.

Most parts of the hospital were clean and staff were observing the correct hygiene practices, however concerns were highlighted in the accident and emergency department’s resuscitation area.

Floors were noticeably scuffed and marked and appeared dirty and needles and syringes were found being openly stored in the area.

Inspectors also found the public toilets were dirty in this area and there were cobwebs on light fittings and dust on radiator grills.

Andrea Gordon, Deputy Director of Operations (regions) for CQC, said: “Although our inspectors saw some good practice and heard positive comments about the hospital from patients, the failings we found at Kettering General Hospital are a real concern.

“CQC has been working to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people receiving this service and we have told the trust changes need to be made.

“We have been working closely with our partner agencies with regard to the trust and we will be closely monitoring its progress on the improvements it needs to make.

“Our inspectors will return in the near future and if we find the required progress is not made we won’t hesitate to take further action where necessary.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

You can read the full report at the Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust page.