Regulator finds that A&E department at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, is still failing to protect the safety and welfare of people

30 January 2012

But inspectors find that improvements have been made to maternity services by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found that some people attending the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, are still receiving unacceptably poor care.

Inspectors – supported by clinical experts - visited the hospital unannounced in November and December last year. They found that some people who needed to be admitted to the hospital faced a long wait in A&E in conditions which failed to meet their needs. A report on their findings has been published today.

CQC found that:

• People using the ‘majors’ area who required admission were waiting far too long to be transferred to other parts of the hospital; 5% waited for more than 11 hours.
• Some people were being nursed on trolleys when they needed to be moved into beds. People were at increased risk of pressure sores, dehydration and falls.
• The ‘majors’ area did not have any washing facilities or storage for personal possessions, and didn’t offer people the privacy and dignity they are entitled to. Elsewhere in the department, personal information – including diagnosis - was displayed where anyone, including other members of the public, could see it.
• There were not enough consultant or junior doctors in the A&E.

Another unannounced inspection, into maternity services at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, found that the required standards there were now being met. A full report on that inspection has also been published today.

Matthew Trainer, Deputy Director of CQC in London, said:

"People who need to be admitted to Queen's Hospital through A&E are waiting far too long.

“No-one should wait 11 hours plus to be transferred to a bed, but some of the people we saw during our unannounced inspection had done just that. The area in which they were waiting was not set up to deliver good quality care to the standard CQC expects.

"CQC’s plan is to place a legal restriction on the number of people who can be admitted to the ‘majors’ part of A&E if people already there have been waiting for too long. This is designed to protect people from the risk of harm, and to give the Trust breathing space to make the changes it needs to make. We are meeting the Trust Development Authority and local commissioners next week to discuss next steps."

"Put simply, there are not always enough staff to care for the number of people who are attending the A&E and not enough beds being made available in the rest of the hospital. The Trust has acknowledged this and now needs to put all its energies into putting it right.

"The significant improvement we have seen in maternity in the last year - both through our inspections, and through patient surveys which say 96% of women giving birth there would now recommend it to family and friends - is a massive step forward. The staff in maternity have worked hard to transform the service. We need to see this kind of fundamental transformation in their emergency care.

"Decisions about how services are delivered are for trusts and commissioners to make. CQC expects its national standards to be met however services are configured."

“We’ll be checking the quality of care through further unannounced inspections.”

Ends

Notes to editors