The Chief Inspector of Hospitals has used CQC's urgent enforcement powers to protect people using services at Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust.
Professor Sir Mike Richards took action with regard to services at Colchester General Hospital following an inspection carried out on 12 and 27 November and 23 December last year. The report relating to the inspection has been published today (Friday, 30 January).
The inspection took place in response to information of concern around performance and care received by patients in the accident and emergency department and the emergency assessment unit.
Inspectors found the hospital needed to make changes and both the hospital's Urgent and Emergency Services and Medical Care have been rated as 'Inadequate' overall. Colchester General Hospital is also rated as 'Inadequate' overall.
A full copy of the report on the hospital can be found at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/RDEE4.
The Care Quality Commission's inspection found staff were exceptionally busy and did not always come across as caring or treating patients with dignity and respect.
Staffing levels were not sufficient to ensure safety of patients could be maintained at all times. And while patients spoke positively about the care they received, the pressures on staff were having a detrimental effect on care.
For example, the risk of patients' health deteriorating was not acted upon in a timely way because early warning signs of deterioration were not always acknowledged.
We saw that the emergency department was not always clean and staff in the emergency department and Emergency Admissions Unit (EAU) did not adopt good hand hygiene or washing procedures.
CQC's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:
"As a result of the issues highlighted as part of our inspection I wrote to Colchester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. My letter informed the trust Chief Executive that CQC was using its urgent powers to take action with regard to the accident and emergency department at Colchester General Hospital.
"The action placed conditions on the trust's registration to help it improve how patients are assessed, discharged and transferred for the most appropriate medical attention. I also told the trust that it must ensure patient safety by introducing new ways of organising the emergency admissions unit.
"The trust is already in special measures and we informed Monitor of the breaches and of our action.
"Clearly improvements are needed and the trust faces a number of challenges to ensure it meets the required standards. The trust is aware of what action it now needs to take and our inspectors will return to check on whether the required improvements have been made. We will then decide whether or not it is appropriate to remove the conditions placed on the services at Colchester General Hospital."
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Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at Colchester General Hospital.