The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust to make improvements following inspections carried out last year.
Unannounced inspections were carried after CQC received information of concern about some of the services being provided.
Following these inspections, the following services were rated:
- Urgent and emergency care at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham – This has again been rated as requires improvement overall.
- Urgent and emergency care at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital – The overall rating has improved from inadequate to requires improvement.
- Urgent and emergency care at Good Hope Hospital – The rating overall has declined from requires improvement to inadequate.
- Neurosurgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham – This has been rated requires improvement overall. This is the first time the service has been rated.
- Cancer services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham – The overall rating has declined from good to requires improvement.
Also, CQC inspected medical services at Good Hope Hospital to follow up on a warning notice which was issued to the trust in December 2022 due to serious issues identified around staffing.
At this latest inspection the trust had not met the requirements of the warning notice, and due to further issues being found, conditions were placed on the trust’s registration.
Conditions were also put on the trust’s registration for issues around safeguarding in the three urgent and emergency care services inspected.
Maternity services at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital were also inspected to follow up on a warning notice which was issued last February, regarding timeliness of medical reviews in the pregnancy assessment emergency room.
Following this latest inspection, improvements had been made in maternity and the requirements of the warning notice had been met.
Following these inspections:
- Medical services at Good Hope Hospital – The overall rating has dropped from requires improvement to inadequate
- Maternity services at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital – This was not re-rated and remains rated as inadequate overall.
[Ratings for all five domains in each service can be found in the notes to editors]
The overall rating for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust remains as requires improvement.
Inspectors found:
- Four services inspected were rated as requires improvement overall and two as inadequate overall. Maternity services were not re-rated
- People were not always protected from harm. There were serious concerns relating to safeguarding practices within the emergency departments
- Not all staff had received mandatory and safeguarding training, including training which became a legal requirement
- Services did not manage medicines well
- The trust was not compliant with the Accessible Information Standard. This states people who have a disability or sensory loss should be given information in a way they can access and understand
- People could not always access some services when they needed them or receive the right care promptly
- Staff did not always feel respected, supported and valued
- Leaders did not always run services well and did not always manage risk effectively
- Governance systems were not always effective.
However:
- Staff provided emotional support to people, families and carers to minimise their distress
- Staff supported people, families and carers to understand their condition and make decisions about their care and treatment.