Watchdog says failing hospital has got WORSE
STEPPING Hill Hospital, which was told last year to make urgent improvements, has got WORSE, a worrying report has found.
Serious concerns were raised about the state of the A&E department during an inspection and bosses were warned by a health watchdog that changes had to be made. But when the Care Quality Commission returned to the hospital in March and June this year, they discovered certain areas of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust had ‘deteriorated’.
Stepping Hill was rated ‘inadequate’ overall for safety and urgent and emergency services, with safety of medical care also receiving the lowest grade.
Overall both Stepping Hill Hospital and the trust were rated as ‘requiring improvement’. The trust’s chief executive has now apologised to any patients who were ‘failed’.
STEPPING Hill Hospital, which was told last year to make urgent improvements, has got WORSE, a worrying report has found.
Serious concerns were raised about the state of the A&E department during an inspection and bosses were warned by a health watchdog that changes had to be made.
But when the Care Quality Commission returned to the hospital in March and June this year, they discovered certain areas of Stockport NHS Foundation Trust had ‘deteriorated.’
Stepping Hill was rated ‘inadequate’ overall for safety and urgent and emergency services, with the safety of medical care also receiving the lowest grade.
Surgery and end of life care however scored ‘good’ in all five key areas, with the trust receiving an ‘outstanding rating’ in children and young people services for caring.
Overall both Stepping Hill Hospital and the trust were rated as ‘requiring improvement.’ The Trust’s chief executive has now apologised to any patients who were ‘failed.’
One of the major problems CQC inspectors identified was staffing and found that at times shift fill rates were as low as 50 per cent, with the trust relying heavily on bank and agency staff to fill gaps in the rota.
The lack of nurses also resulted in trolleys and cubicles not always being cleaned between patients and the sluice room was ‘visibly soiled.’
Patients were also reportedly left in an ‘undignified manner’ in the corridor areas, including being physically examined in those areas. Some told inspectors that ‘they were humiliated by their treatment.’
The report also said that record keeping was so poor, on one occasion staff were unaware that a patient had left the department until three hours later when an inspection team noted this.
There were also issues in the handover of patients to the hospital from ambulance staff, with a significant increase in the number of ‘black breaches,’ which is when it takes longer than 60 minutes to transfer a patient from NWAS to the hospital.
Between November 2014 and October 2015 there were 199 breaches, yet from January 2016-17 there were 218 in one month alone.
The Department of Health standard to admit, transfer or discharge 95% of patients from A&E within four hours was also again not met, with the hospital averaging 77.4pc.
The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Prof Ted Baker, said it was disappointing to see that care standards had deteriorated.
He said: “It is clear that access and flow is still a major concern. Too many patients are waiting in the emergency department to be admitted, transferred or discharged – well below the standard set by the Department of Health.
“Although we recognise the pressures that the trust is under – it is clear that there are several areas where the trust can and must improve. We will return in due course to check the trust’s progress.”
Ann Barnes, chief executive of Stockport NHS Trust, said that a major safety and improvement plan had been launched several months ago and that a lot of work had taken place.
She added: “We are upset and disappointed that we have not been getting it right for every patient and we apologise to the individual patients and their families where the reports show we were failing to provide the best care.
“We have committed and skilled staff who, despite facing many pressures, come to work every day wanting to provide the absolute best for each patient. They care deeply about what they do and this is reflected in the ‘good’ rating we received for having ‘caring’ services.”
Medical Director Dr Colin Wasson admitted the trust was under pressure and says recruitment remains a challenge nationally.
Despite this, he emphasised that staff had been working hard to improve and that a recent quality monitoring visit of the A&E department by Health Education England in the North West found positive steps had been made, concluding ‘there was considerable improvement in morale, staffing levels and senior leadership in the emergency medicine department and systems in the acute care pathway.’
Jon Rouse, Chief Officer of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, added: “It is clear that some elements of medical and nursing care fell short of the high standards that should rightly be expected by patients at Stepping Hill Hospital.
“We accept the findings from the Care Quality Commission and have been working with Stockport’s leadership team to address these issues and put in place an action plan to make the necessary and required improvements to care.” »»Residents voice their anger over staff parking - see page 17