Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is rated Good by CQC

Published: 12 March 2019 Page last updated: 12 March 2019
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The Care Quality Commission has rated Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Good overall.

The trust was rated Outstanding for being effective, and Good for being safe, caring, responsive and well-led, following inspections in November and December 2018.

Moorfields is the largest provider of eye care in the United Kingdom and operates from 31 sites. All the services included in this inspection were rated either Good or Outstanding.

Inspectors found some areas of outstanding care - services monitored the effectiveness or care and treatment and used the findings to improve them. Patient outcomes in many specialities were better than the national targets. There was good multidisciplinary working across all services CQC inspected.

Managers appraised staff’s work performance to provide support and monitor the effectiveness of the service. Staff understood how and when to assess if patients had the capacity to make decisions about their treatment.

CQC’s overall caring rating remained the same at Good and services at Moorfields’ City Road were rated Outstanding for caring. Feedback from patients confirmed that staff were caring and treated them with kindness. They said that staff went out of their way to make their visits as comfortable and smooth-running as possible.

Responses from the trust’s family and friends test were consistently good and many included comments about individual staff providing exceptional care.

Patients said they were involved in decisions about their care and treatment and staff took time to answer their questions.

Services took account of patients’ individual and diverse needs such as disability, gender, religion and belief. Accessibility information for patients living with learning disabilities and dementia was available, an improvement from the previous inspection.

The trust must now ensure in outpatients at Moorfields, Bedford:

  • That all clinic waiting lists currently and accurately reflect patients’ progress.
  • That where learning is identified and actions agreed in response to incidents, learning is shared and implemented promptly to prevent any reoccurrence.

Actions the trust should take to improve include in surgery at Moorfields, City Road, London:

  • Identifying specific, localised risks to the service and recording these on the risk register.
  • Continue to reduce vacancies for non-registered staff.

In outpatients at City Road, the trust should:

  • Improve staff awareness of learning from incidents and complaints.
  • Continue to work to improve records and the environment.

In surgery at Moorfields, Bedford the service should: 

  • Ensure that all patients’ individual pain needs are met.
  • Review the possibility of staggering appointment times - to reduce waiting times for patients prior to surgery.
  • Continue to ensure that patients’ records are locked and kept secure.

In outpatients at Moorfields, Bedford the trust should ensure:

  • The children’s clinical and waiting areas are separate from the adults.
  • Increased capacity in glaucoma and cataract clinics to minimise treatment waiting times.

In outpatients at Moorfields, St George’s in West London, the trust should:

  • Improve the cramped waiting area.
  • Improve the ‘did not attend’ rate.

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said: “Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has a worldwide reputation for its services and research work. The trust had an experienced leadership team with the skills, abilities, and commitment to provide high-quality services. 

We found evidence of a high level of care and we were impressed by patient feedback. The trust’s family and friends test were consistently good and many included comments about individual staff providing exceptional care.

There are though some areas where care can be improved and they are outlined in our inspection report. I am confident that they will be addressed in the future.”

You can read the report in full when it is published on CQC’s website by clicking on this link www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RP6

Ends

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About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.