2 May 2013
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust it must make urgent improvements to comply with the national standards of quality and safety.
This follows an unannounced inspection at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, on 21 February 2013.
The inspection - carried out to check if improvements had been made with regard to an inspection in July last year - found the trust was still not meeting the national standard relating to the care and welfare of people who use services.
The trust was also found not to be meeting the national standard relating to the management of medicines.
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 looked at nursing records for 15 patients and found that a large number of these records contained inaccurate information.
This meant that clinical decisions could be made in relation to information that was not correct, meaning care planning was not robust as it did not always ensure the welfare and safety of the people using the service.
Additionally, there were not always effective arrangements in place for the storage, security and safe administration of some medicines.
Andrea Gordon, Deputy Director of Operations (regions) for CQC, said: “The failings at Broomfield 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 Broomfield Hospital page.
About the CQC: Snippet for press releases
About the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.
We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.
Find out more
Read the reports from our checks on standards at Broomfield Hospital.