The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report following a focused inspection of the urgent and emergency service at Russells Hall Hospital, part of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.
The inspection was carried out on 2 February to check how the service was responding to winter pressures focusing on; patient safety, infection prevention and control, patient flow, workforce and leadership and culture. Inspectors did not enter any areas designated as high risk due to COVID-19.
This targeted inspection did not result in a rating change for the urgent and emergency service overall, therefore the previous rating of Requires Improvement remains. The rating for Safe at the urgent and emergency service at Russells Hall Hospital which was previously Inadequate, is now Requires Improvement. The overall trust rating remains unchanged as Requires Improvement. Bernadette Hanney, CQC’s Head of Hospital Inspection, said:
“When inspectors visited the urgent and emergency service at Russells Hall Hospital, they were pleased to see that most areas were providing an acceptable level of care to ensure patients’ needs were being met.
“Staff told inspectors that despite the increased pressures from the pandemic, they felt respected, supported and valued by their leaders. They were able to raise and escalate concerns and gave inspectors examples of recent occasions where they had been supported to do this.
“However, at times of increased demand, patients brought by ambulance often experienced delays. Data from the three weeks prior to inspection showed the trust had been worse than the national average for ambulance hand over delays. Whilst hospital staff prioritised these patients, they relied on ambulance personnel to escalate any concerns or deterioration in the patient’s condition.
“Trust leaders responded to these concerns and have made some positive changes. These include; deploying a doctor to the ambulance entrance area to work alongside a triage nurse, ensuring early clinical assessment is completed and treating and discharging patients directly from the ambulance if appropriate.
“Inspectors reported their findings to the trust leadership, which knows what it must do to bring about further improvements and ensure it maintains any already made.”
Following the inspection, the trust should ensure the following improvements are made:
- The trust should continue to work towards achieving improvements in staff compliance with safeguarding training
- The trust should consider implementing a system that includes visual prompts at red area access points to remind staff of the PPE requirements before entering
- The trust should continue to work with the wider health and social care system to improve flow from the emergency department to speciality wards
- The trust should consider taking a more proactive and integrated approach with regards to the assessment and management of the risks associated with ambulance offload delays
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published here.
Ends
For enquiries about this press release please email regional.engagement@cqc.org.uk.
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.