Updated 22 May 2019
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides acute healthcare services to a population of around 275,280 in north Northamptonshire, South Leicestershire and Rutland.
There are approximately 541 inpatient beds and over 3,400 whole time equivalent staff are employed. Kettering General Hospital is one of the largest employers in Northamptonshire.
All acute services are provided at Kettering Hospital with outpatients’ services also being provided at Nene Park, Corby Diagnostic Centre, Prospect House and Isebrook Hospital. The findings in this report do not reflect the site we did not inspect, Isebrook outpatients.
The trust ended the financial year 2017/18 with a deficit of £34.7m (£33.6m after excluding the impact of non-performance technical adjustments – impairments, donated asset movements and loss on disposal of assets). The financial plan agreed with the regulator was a total deficit of £19.9m. This excluded sustainability and transformation funding as the trust rejected its control total.
In 2017/8 the hospital had:
- 87,497 patients per year, 240 patients per day in A&E;
- 267,000 outpatients each year;
- 741 outpatient clinics per week
- 40,000 inpatients;
- 41,500 day case patients;
- 3,500 births.
This was the fourth inspection of the trust which included ratings and the second inspection of the trust using a new methodology, whereby we inspected core services, and included an inspection of the well-led element of the trust overall. This inspection took place between 5 February 2019 and 14 March 2019.
The first inspection took place in September 2014, when it was rated as requires improvement overall.
The hospital was inspected again in October 2016. The overall rating for the trust was ‘inadequate’ with two of the five key questions we ask, safe and well-led, being ‘inadequate’. Effective and responsive were rated as ’requires improvement’. The trust, and every service level, was rated ‘good’ for care. The service was placed into special measures.
The third inspection took place between 7 November to 1 December 2017, which was announced. Our rating of the trust improved. We rated it as requires improvement because: Caring was rated as good in all areas inspected. Safe, effective, responsive and well led were rated requires improvement, and leadership at the trust level overall was rated as requires improvement. However, the trust was not removed from special measures.