The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust rated Good by CQC

England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust as Good overall following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

The trust was rated Outstanding for being caring and Good for being safe, effective, responsive and well-led during the inspection which took place in April 2016. Additionally CQC inspectors rated the radiotherapy service as outstanding across both hospital locations.

The trust is split between two main sites in Chelsea and Sutton, with a day-case unit at Kingston Hospital. The Royal Marsden provides a specialist service for patients diagnosed with cancer. As a specialist trust, The Royal Marsden receives patients from beyond the immediate area as well as national and international referrals. Additionally, The Royal Marsden also provides a range of community health services to people living in Sutton. We carried out a comprehensive inspection of both the acute cancer services and the community health services provided by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

Some of CQC inspectors’ key findings included:

• There were robust processes for staff to follow in relation to incident reporting
• Staff understood the importance of being open and honest, as per the duty of candour
• The environment in which people received treatment and care was clean
• Staff were enabled to perform their duties through the provision of professional standards and guidance
• Investment by the trust ensured that staff were highly trained. Many staff had studied for master degrees and specialist courses in cancer
• Critical care staff worked with a specialist in aromatherapy massage to identify if this type of therapy would result in better sleep patterns amongst patients
• There was an extensive range of information, including films for patients, which provided detailed support.

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: “Staff at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust really do care about their patients. We saw nursing and therapy staff who had the commitment and time to provide person-centred care that often went the out of their way for their patients.

“The Royal Marsden is widely recognised as a leader in its field, looking after people who have been diagnosed with cancer. It is the only NHS hospital to have the most up to date version of the latest surgical robot, which allows less invasive surgery and improved patient recovery. The 10-year fellowship programme means that 30 surgeons will be trained by the trust to operate the robot.

“We found that the environment in which people received treatment and care was clean and organised in a manner which reduced the risk of infection.

“It is clear that senior staff actively promote staff welfare and had provided tai chi, complementary therapies and meditation sessions to promote wellbeing and relaxation.”

The report does though identify a number of areas for improvement. Importantly, for acute cancer services:

• The trust must implement and embed the World Health Organisation Safety Checklist in the outpatients department

For community health services:

• When patients aged 16 or more are unable to give consent because they lack the capacity to do so, the trust should ensure staff act in accordance with the Mental Capacity Act 2005
• The trust must ensure that records contain accurate information in respect of each patient and include appropriate information in relation to the treatment and care provided, particularly with regard to risk assessments
• The trust must review the staff complement for community adult services to ensure there are enough appropriately skilled staff to meet patients’ needs.

Ends

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