The Care Quality Commission has found improvements in services provided by The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust at Pinderfields and Dewsbury hospitals following an inspection which took place on 30 October 2017.
Inspectors had visited the trust to check that it had made significant improvements set out in a Warning Notice issued to the Trust in June that identified concerns and areas for improvement in the medical division.
At the time CQC found concerns with the lack of suitably qualified and skilled staff; the effectiveness of the escalation and monitoring of deteriorating patients; extra capacity beds and late night bed moves affecting the privacy and dignity of patients and the monitoring and assessment of patient’s nutritional and hydration needs
The findings from the latest inspection included:
- Staffing fill rates had generally increased across medical wards at both hospital sites. The trust had plans in place to recruit more staff.
- Inspectors could now see that national early warning system (NEWS) scores were consistently recorded and escalated for patients who were reviewed. An audit programme had commenced to further monitor and improve compliance.
- While there had previously been concerns about patients coming to harm as a result of falls, the falls risk assessments were consistently completed.
- The use of extra capacity beds had significantly reduced since the time of the initial inspection. Bed moves after 10.00pm had also significantly reduced.
Sandra Sutton, Interim Head of Hospital Inspections – North East and Cumbria, said:
“Our latest inspection has seen some improvements; the trust has responded to the Warning Notice is progress – although the trust is aware that there are still a number of areas where it needs to improve."
“At the last inspection in May, we had identified a shortage of nursing staff. During this inspection we saw that the trust had committed to an international recruitment campaign that is expected to result in increased staffing by late 2018."
“There has been no reassessment of the trust’s rating which it remains as Requires Improvement. However, we will continue to work with the trust to ensure that the service continues to improve.”
There are areas where the trust must improve, including:
- Staffing remained challenging in some areas, with some wards not meeting the 80% fill rate or the patient-staff ratio set by the trust.
- Fluid and nutrition charts for patients that were reviewed at Dewsbury were not fully completed.
- It still remained difficult to easily identify, in the medical and nursing records, where an assessment of mental capacity had been made. The documentation varied according to the care pathway and lacked consistency.
The full report can be found on our website.
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