Trust boss: ‘We accept challenge to improve’
many years, our hospitals in Worthing and Chichester have retained their ‘outstanding’ status from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). As of this week, that
is no longer the case, writes Uhsussex chief executive Dr George Findlay.
That is a real sadness for me, because I know it will be a real blow to the thousands of brilliant and dedicated staff working to care for people, day in and day out.
Those colleagues are all just as outstanding as they were last week, and the week before, but they may not feel like that. that would be wrong, and a real shame.
And it is a sadness tome because I know many people livingin west sussex have rightly taken pride and reassurance from knowing just how fantastic their local hospitals were, and now may be questioning whether they can still feel such confidence.
I truly believe that my colleagues should still feel rightful pride in their work, and I truly do believe that patients and carers should feel the same confidence that they will be looked after, and looked after well. But I understand why our CQC rating has dropped, and that people will want to know why.
First, the obvious. Neither St Richard’s nor Worthing hospitals had been properly inspected since before the Covid-19 pandemic. The world is very different now, and that applies to the NHS as well.
Waiting lists are longer, we see more patients who are more ill, staff are hugely pressured and worn down. I must be honest – despite the heroics of our staff I couldn’t describe our hospitals as ‘outstanding’ overall when too many patients have to wait so long for care.
But we cannot simply blame the pandemic. The CQC inspectors found too many things which were not right – from issues with record-keeping, and training, to staffing levels and our working culture and behaviours. These are fundamental issues and we are working to address them, and quickly. And we continue to hear colleagues saying they’re not confident to speak up when they have confor cerns. We must get that right.
We will demand high standards of ourselves in putting right what needs to improve.
I hope that staff and patients alike will look beyond the headline findings – difficult as they are – because there is much to welcome. The CQC still found staff who are caring and compassionate, who give good patient care, work well together, and involve and respect their patients.
In short, the staff who see you, talk to you and care for you in Worthing and St Richard’s hospitals are just as terrific as ever. The CQC is telling us how we can help them to be better still – we recognise what they tell us, and accept the challenge to improve.