Hospital trust must make improvements, says health watchdog
ENGLAND’S Chief Inspector of Hospitals has told the trust in charge of Sandwell General Hospital it must improve – citing concerns surrounding staff shortages and poor care planning.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, which also runs City Hospital in Birmingham and Rowley Regis Hospital, has been given a requires improvement rating from the Care Quality Commission.
Addressing the report published on October 31, Professor Ted Baker, CQC’s Chief of Hospitals, said: “Although some improvements had been noted since our previous inspection from October 2014, the trust had not made all the necessary changes to alter their rating.
“Staff in the outpatients department did not have their competencies assessed to ensure they were confident and competent to carry out their role.
“The trust did not always ensure there was enough staffing or appropriate skill mix.
“CQC rated the community inpatient services as inadequate because of lack of mental health capacity assessments, poor care planning and inconsistent assessment of risk.
“Paediatric Ophthalmology (eye diseases, visual development, and vision care in children) services were delivered in a service that was not focused on the needs of children.
“Despite these concerns, we found a number of areas of outstanding and good practice across Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.”
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust did, however, receive praise. Its care was rated as outstanding while the trust was also deemed to be well-led.
“Staff must be particularly commended for their caring approach and we rated this area as outstanding overall,” added Professor Baker.
“We also rated end-of-life services and community health services for children and young people as outstanding.
“Patients and family members said that the care was not only excellent but that staff always went that extra mile.
“We observed interactions across the trust and spoke to numerous patients and relatives whom said they were treated well and kept up to date and well informed about their treatment.
“The trust leadership knows what it needs to do to bring about improvement in the areas identified and our inspectors will return at a later date to check on what progress has been made.”
CQC inspected the medical services provided by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust on February 16 followed by a further inspection on March 28-30.
Toby Lewis, chief executive of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I would like to thank the Care Quality Commission inspectors for their reports.
“We are all pleased that they recognised real improvement since the Trust was inspected in 2014.
“I am delighted with the rat- ing for our innovative partnership for end of life care, which we believe is one of the best services in the country, and underlines our strong tradition of partnership on the patch. The service is a role model for the wider STP.
“I want to pay tribute to our clinical teams for their continued dedication and compassion, which is well reflected in the report.
“There is no complacency at all, and our work to improve emergency care on our adult wards continues.
“The good well led rating is particularly pleasing given our commitment to developing clinical leaders and emphasising devolved responsibility within a wider system.”