WATCHDOG TELLS HOSPITAL TO IMPROVE

CQC deliver report on hospital trust

The trust which runs Peterborough City Hospital have been told they need to improve following a critical inspection.

The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust - which along with the Peterborough hospital also runs Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon and Stamford and Rutland Hospital, was visited by the Care Quality Commission earlier this year.

Their report gave the trust an overall grade of ‘Requires Improvement.’ The inspectors also rated safety, effectiveness and leadership as requiring improvement.

The report said: “The trust did not ensure sufficient numbers of staff completed mandatory training in key skills. Nursing and medical staff did not meet the trust’s compliance target in most courses. In addition, staff were not always trained to the appropriate level of children’s safeguarding.

“There were periods of understaffing, or inappropriate skill mix, which was not always addressed quickly.”

The inspectors added: “Staff were not always competent to undertake their roles.”

However, the inspectors said staff were caring at the hospital, rating that category as ‘Good,’ along with how responsive services were.

Last year, the trust which ran Peterborough City Hospital and Stamford and Rutland Hospital merged with the trust which ran Hinchingbrooke. The merger was announced in a bid to save ‘fragile’ services.

Following the publication of the report Caroline Walker, Chief Executive at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust said: “While being rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ by the CQC inspection team has come as a disappointment to our staff and to our board members, it is important that we reflect on it in the context that we are just 18 months post-merger. From feedback gained through other routes, we know we have come a long way in that time, but it is not possible to embed our recently-developed clinical strategy, nor new processes for the integration of cross-site teams in our service areas, within that timeframe.”