Whittington Health NHS Trust is rated Good by CQC

A north London hospital trust has been rated Good overall by the Care Quality Commission.

Whittington Health NHS Trust was rated Outstanding for being caring. It was rated Good for being effective, responsive and well-led and Requires Improvement for being safe.

Between 31 October and 2 November 2017 CQC inspected four core services at the trust. These were Outpatients Department (OPD), Critical Care, Community Children’s and Young Persons services (CCYP) and Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

CQC decided not to inspect the other core services as they were previously rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’. Concerns raised within these core services are continually monitored at quarterly regulatory meetings with the trust.

Inspectors found an example of outstanding practice in the outpatients department. The trust provided ‘one stop’ clinics for those patients referred with either suspected breast cancer or a suspected skin cancer.

Members of staff said that the service focused on carrying out as many diagnostic procedures as possible in one day. Patients who told us that whilst it was a long day, it was their preference to have as many procedures as possible to reduce the amount of visits they had to make.

However, CQC told the trust that it must take action to bring services into line with legal requirements. This action related to two services: critical care and CAMHS.

In Critical Care:

• The trust must take action to reduce the length of time patients are delayed whilst waiting for discharge from the critical care unit.
• The trust must ensure that there is appropriate local oversight of risk within the critical care unit and that equipment is safely maintained.
• The trust must ensure that patients within the critical care unit receive safe care and treatment in line with best practice recommendations set out within The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (FICM) Core Standards for Intensive Care Units.

In CAMHS at Simmons House:

• The trust must ensure that ligature risks assessments are up to date and accurately identify all ligature anchor points on the unit and how they will be managed; this must be supported by information in patient risk assessments.

Areas where the trust should take action to improve include:

• Ensuring there is consistent reporting of incidents on the electronic incident reporting system in outpatients.
• Ensuring there is full compliance by all staff with infection prevention and control practice; in particular with hand hygiene and bare below the elbow practice in outpatients.
• The trust should minimise the frequency with which patients appointments are cancelled at short notice in outpatients.

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Ellen Armistead, said:

“While we have highlighted areas that need some improvement many of the services were rated as Good or Outstanding and staff should be proud of those services.

“The trust leadership and all staff shared a common and convincing vision that they were there to help support their local community in living longer healthier lives. The vision had been developed with staff and the community.

“However, there are some areas where the trust must improve, including areas of critical care and CAMHS.”

Read the inspection report in full.

Ends

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