Hospital rated good but gets 32 ‘actions’

A DERBYSHIRE hospital has retained its ‘good’ overall rating following a recent visit from Government inspectors.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors spent three days at Chesterfield Royal Hospital in February, a month before the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK.

The hospital has maintained its high standards in the health watchdog’s five key areas, which ask whether a hospital is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

The report has also highlighted five areas of outstanding practice within urgent and emergency service, medical care and surgery.

Angie Smithson, the hospital’s chief executive, said: “I’m incredibly proud of what our colleagues have achieved, to once again show that the care and services we provide have met the high standards set out by the CQC.

“Our teams across the trust work hard to provide the best possible care to our patients and visitors. This rating reflects that dedication and gives us a solid platform as we continue our journey to ‘outstanding’.”

High levels of kind and compassionate care throughout the trust were also highlighted in the CQC report.

It did, however, set out two areas that the trust must improve upon.

The first is to ensure staff wear personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times when taking bloods and inserting a cannula.

The second is to ensure deprivation of liberty (DoLS) assessments are carried out in a timely fashion and families are informed of the outcome and involved in best-interest decision meetings.

There are also 32 actions the CQC recommend the trust to undertake to make services better.

These range from patients being told how to use call bells and keeping up to date with mandatory training to keeping corridors clear of obstructions and appropriate storage of emergency equipment.

Lynn Andrews, director of nursing and patient care, said: “We welcome all aspects of the report and these inspections present us with an ideal opportunity to find out what we need to focus on. It’s uplifting to hear about our achievements and those of our colleagues, but it’s equally important to pinpoint where we need to improve our care and services. I would like to thank all of our staff for their dedication and hard work in achieving this outcome. We have such a strong platform to build on and this report gives us what we need to continue our journey towards ‘outstanding’.”