England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, has called for improvements in the quality of care provided at Hull Royal Infirmary.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) undertook an unannounced, responsive inspection at the hospital between 28 and 29 January 2015 to look specifically at concerns which had been raised about the care and treatment of patients in the Emergency Department. The inspection focused on accident and emergency services including the acute assessment unit, the acute surgical unit and the winter pressures ward.
Following the inspection, CQC has told Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that it must ensure that patients attending Accident and Emergency have an initial assessment of their condition carried out by appropriately qualified clinical staff within 15 minutes of arrival.
The full report from CQC’s responsive inspection of Hull Royal Infirmary has been published here.
CQC's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:
"Before this inspection, we had been told of concerns with regard to the care and treatment of patients in the Emergency Department including delays in handover times from ambulances, and the time it was taking for patients to be assessed in the first place.
"Our inspectors found that while some improvements have been made since our last inspection, it was clear that significant work was still needed to improve services so that they meet the standards people have a right to expect.
"Although staffing levels had improved since our previous inspection in February 2014, pressures on bed capacity within the hospital were still affecting patient care and experience.
"On the Acute Surgical Unit we found that procedures in place to prioritise patients who needed to be admitted were ineffective. Some patients had to wait for a number of hours before being seen by a doctor. Not all staff understood the trust’s policy for admissions onto the Acute Surgical Unit and some were not aware that the trust had a policy to manage admissions.
"The trust should ensure that appropriate and action is taken to address these issues to ensure that patients’ needs are assessed and treated in a timely manner."
Since the inspection, CQC has returned to carry out a further inspection services provided by the trust. A report will be published in due course.
In the meantime, CQC continues to monitor the trust, working closely with the NHS Trust Development Authority and others including the local Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England.
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For further information please contact Kirstin Hannaford, Regional Engagement Manager on 0191 233 3629.
For media enquiries about the Care Quality Commission, please call the press office on 020 7448 9401 during office hours. Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team here (please note: the duty press officer is unable to advise members of the public on health or social care matters). For general enquiries, please call 03000 61 61 61.
Read our reports on Hull Royal Infirmary.