Hospital still in ‘special measures’

WALSALL Manor Hospital has made enough progress to shake off its ‘inadequate’ rating after two years according to official inspectors.

But it has been warned to improve its staffing, training and safeguarding procedures if it wishes to improve further.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has given the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust a ‘requires improvement’ rating and recommended it remains in special measures for the time being.

It shows some progress on 2015 when the hospital was rated as inadequate in a damning report which highlighted staffing shortages and said the safety of patients, particularly on the maternity ward, was a concern.

CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said: “When we inspected Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust we found a number of improvements had been made since our last inspection, but that further work was needed. We highlighted concerns regarding the trust’s maternity services and, as a result, the trust was issued with a warning. This required the trust to make improvements within a set timescale and it supplied an action plan detailing its plans for ensuring improvements are made to the service.

“We also found a number of areas of good and outstanding practice at the trust.”

The CQC still demands improvements in these areas:

Risks must be explained when obtaining consent from women for procedures in maternity and gynaecology.

Action plans for serious incidents must be monitored and managed.

Lessons need to be shared effectively to enable staff learning from serious incidents and complaints.

The emergency department (ED) must complete the action plan compiled following the CQC inspection in September 2015.

The trust must ensure all staff have undertaken mandatory training and safeguarding training to the appropriate level for their role.

Patient records must be kept secure at all times.