PRESCRIPTION TO CURE PROBLEMS AT GEORGE ELIOT

A SERIES of ‘own goals’ played a part in a Nuneaton hospital being told it ‘requires improvement’ by health inspectors.

During what was something of a post mortem into the ‘requires improvement’ rating given to the George Eliot Hospital by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors, it was revealed that there were a number of relatively easy fixes to some of the areas highlighted.

In fact, Kath Kelly, the hospital chief executive said a lot of the changes needed are ‘within our gift’ at the hospital, such as documenting actions on records, ensuring staff are bare below the elbow and ensuring there is access to equipment like syringe drivers.

She admitted to the George Eliot NHS Trust board that there were serious elements, such as end of life care and emergency and urgent care that need real attention, but added that some of the things CQC inspectors noted could and will be easily remedied.

“I was talking to some nurse specialists, they said to me ‘There is a lot of own goals there Kath, we have all got to take some responsibility,’” she explained.

“For our staff to say ‘yes, we do need to take responsibility, and we do want to get back to good, we want to be outstanding’ – we could not ask for more and we, as a board, have a responsibility to support that and we need to continue to listen to patients and families so that we are always learning and improving the services.”

Now, as a result of the rating, the hospital can expect to be inspected again this year – and the chief executive wants to use it as an opportunity to show that a real change has been made.

“We were probably one of the first five hospitals to go through the new CQC regime, for us, it was a new experience,” she explained.

“They (the CQC) will be keeping a much closer oversight on us, they will be more focused and targeted, it is almost forensic like, they will be monitoring and inspecting, and we have an opportunity, as a provider, to supply our statement of quality.

“It is likely they (CQC inspectors) will be in this year, we were inspected in October so they might come two months before or two months after. We have to really up our game in responding to the action plan.

“We need to get basics right; drugs, medicine, infection, record keeping - basics - within our gift. Compliance in training – basic - within our gift.”

She added: “I am very proud as a chief executive of the way our staff treat our patients. When it comes to our culture, a lot of organisations would give anything to have the culture that we have got within this organisation, it is receptive, so we have to build on that.”

Speaking about the inspection, which saw the hospital fall from a ‘good rating’ to ‘requires improvement’ overall, with particular concern for end of life and urgent care, the chief executive said: “Yes, we are disappointed as a board and as a team across the George Eliot.

“Four years ago when we were coming out of Keogh (the Keogh inspection), we achieved the rating ‘good,’ that was four years ago and I was here at that time and at this time and I know of all the improvements and changes that have taken place at the George Eliot since then and I would say that the process for inspection is quite different from how it was four years ago, there is a much tighter focus on areas.

“But we are embracing what the report says, and we have got some clear actions on what we need to do to take it forward.”

Among the areas in need of desperate action include getting more suitably qualified and skilled staff in end-of-life care, as well as training for hospital staff.

In emergency care it was highlighted that senior leaders were not aware of the risk to patients in the department, there were no dedicated triage nurses in post, not all staff had been trained to triage patients and leaders were ‘not leading effectively’ and were not visible due to demand elsewhere in the hospital.

As a result, the chief executive said that a new consultant in Palliative Care has been recruited and a new senior nurse in the end of life team. The £1m upgrade of A&E, which includes new treatment areas, will be complimented by a new ‘streaming process’ for triage patients and extra staff are being recruited to boost the leadership in the emergency department team.