Improvements still needed at A&ES

Inspectors visit east Kent’s major hospitals

Unannounced inspections of the emergency departments at east Kent’s two major hospitals have highlighted improvements which need to be made.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) investigation found services at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and Thanet’s Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital ‘require improvement’.

The new reports - based on visits made in early March specifically assess whether the urgent and emergency care services experienced pressure due to winter demands or Covid. Cleanliness, infection control and hygiene processes were all found to have improved. But problems uncovered include the trust not having enough nursing staff with the right qualifications, skills, training, and experience. Hospital bosses have been told they should consider reviewing the layout and flow of patients within the emergency department - and must “ensure all patients are monitored for deterioration”.

Catherine Campbell, the CQC’S head of hospital inspection, said: “I am pleased to report that there were improvements to the overall performance of the trust’s emergency departments. “While we found no real areas of concern at the QEQM, we told East Kent Hospitals that it should ensure it has the right number of consultants in each department at the hospital and it should improve its four-hour performance targets.

“At the William Harvey, we told the trust it must ensure that the emergency department has suitable facilities in place to care for patients with mental health problems.

“It must also ensure that all patients are monitored for deterioration, including those waiting for triage.

“In addition, it should consider reviewing the layout and flow of patients within the department and improve accessibility of patient records.” Patient assessments were found to be recorded via differing systems - heightening the chance of errors, duplication and not noticing patient deterioration.

The mental health assessment tool was also not electronic, meaning records could be hard to locate.

At the Harvey, four out of six sets of patient records reviewed did not have clinical observations carried out at required intervals, while the national four-hour performance target for A&E patients remains unfulfilled. Improvements noted included better management structure, and heightened infection control.

Head inspector Ms Campbell added: “Staff should be congratulated for making the improvements we saw.

“We will continue to monitor both services and will return to ensure further improvements are made and fully embedded.” Last year, the William Harvey was rated inadequate for its ‘safety’ aspect - resulting in immediate conditions being imposed.

Following the recent inspection in March this year, those conditions have now been removed.

The QEQM in Margate and William Harvey in Ashford were inspected