Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust is rated Good by Chief Inspector of Hospitals

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated services provided by Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust as Good after a comprehensive inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

A team of inspectors visited the trust as part of the comprehensive inspection programme between 8 and 11 December 2015. CQC visited the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary at Wigan, Leigh Infirmary, Wrightington Hospital, the Thomas Linaker Centre, Wigan and Boston House, Wigan.

Overall the trust was rated as ‘Good’ for being, caring, effective, responsive and well led and Requires Improvement for safety.

The full report, including ratings, is available at: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RRF

The main findings included:

• There was a positive attitude throughout the trust based on a culture of continuous improvement and striving for excellence. Staff felt supported, able to suggest improvements and develop professionally. Staff were proud of their services and proud of the trust.
• Medical staffing was good across the trust with only a small number of vacancies for doctors. The skills mix showed the proportion of consultants to junior grades was higher than the England average.
• The trust had participated in national audits and performed as expected or better in many areas including myocardial ischaemia national audit project; Bowel Cancer Audit (2014); Hip Fracture audit, National Paediatric Diabetes Audit and the ICNARC audit.
• There were some areas for improvement particularly in the children’s services. Improvement was also required in angiography and the national neonatal audit and there was a mixed performance in the National Emergency Laparotomy audit.

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:

“Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust is managed and led by a stable team. CQC inspectors found a positive attitude throughout the trust – which is reflected in our overall rating.

“There were many examples of good practice The trust has been recognised for its staff engagement programme and I note it has been ranked as one of the best acute trust in the NHS as a place to work. And I have no doubt that the quality of patient care benefits as a result.

“There were some areas where nurse staffing required improvement particularly in paediatric services where we have asked the trust to look again at how they calculate staff numbers. By providing that additional focus on the areas that need to be improved, I would hope that when we next inspect, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust they will be delivering even higher standards of care.”

There were a number of areas where inspectors identified outstanding practice including:

• The A&E department is one of the top performing in the country, consistently achieving the national 95% standard. The Trust has been number one in Greater Manchester since April 2015.
• The urgent care department used an electronic dashboard that constantly monitored flow through the department, using seasonal data and information from previous years to predict likely numbers of patients.
• The breast screening team achieved screening targets above national average for a large catchment of patients.

Specialist nurses ensured a holistic approach to patients Inspectors identified some areas where the trust must improve including:

• At Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, the trust must ensure that there are sufficient numbers of staff who are trained to resuscitate children at all times in the emergency department.
• The service must ensure staffing levels in the paediatric service are maintained in accordance with national professional standards.
• At Leigh Infirmary, the trust must ensure safeguarding, Mental Capacity Act and deprivation of liberty safeguards are in place and followed to ensure patients’ safety at all times. Processes must be clearly defined, understood and followed by staff.

CQC carried out the inspection in December 2015.The team included CQC inspectors and a variety of specialists including: doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, community nursing staff and a dentist.

The Care Quality Commission has already presented its findings to a local Quality Summit, including NHS commissioners, providers, regulators and other public bodies. The purpose of the Quality Summit is to develop a plan of action and recommendations based on the inspection team’s findings.

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