The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust that it must continue to improve its Critical Care and Outpatients services

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals has told The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust in Birmingham that it must continue to improve the quality of some of its services following its latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

Following an inspection in June 2014, CQC had rated the outpatients department as Inadequate for being responsive and rated critical care services as Inadequate for being safe.

Inspectors returned to The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital Foundation Trust in July 2015 to check both services.

CQC found that while the services had improved in those areas, further improvements were still needed. The trust’s overall rating remains as Requires Improvement.

A full copy of the inspection report will be published on CQC’s website on Friday, 4 December- www.cqc.org.uk/location/RRJ05.

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:

"While there have been some notable improvements since our last inspection, we found other issues that must be put right.

“Staffing in the High Dependency Unit with regards to children was not suitable. We were very concerned that children were being cared for on an adult HDU which had neither the facilities nor the space required to meet their needs. The trust was told to address this safety matter as a priority and we have been assured that the trust has taken the necessary steps to address this.

“We rated both critical care and outpatients as Good for being caring. Inspectors observed staff who treated patients and their families with dignity, respect and compassion. Patients were involved in their care and were supported emotionally.

“The trust has assured us that it is working steadily towards ensuring the improvements are taking place that are required. We will continue to monitor its performance, and our inspectors will return at a later date to check on progress.”

The report identifies a number of areas for improvement, including:

• The trust must improve the flow through the Outpatients department so patients are not kept waiting for appointments.
• Managers must improve their understanding of the processes involved in exercising the duty of candour, in particular what they should expect beyond ward level and at a practical level including record keeping.

Inspectors also saw some areas of outstanding practice, including:

• Inspectors observed that some clinicians in Outpatients were inputting letters to GP’s and other services onto an electronic system for same day delivery, in the presence of the patient before they left the clinic.
• The unit manager in the High Dependency Unit confirmed that staff understood the values of the trust. A post box had been put up in the unit to enable staff to identify what the values meant to them. Staff views on the values were also displayed on a noticeboard and had been discussed during staff meetings.

Ends

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