Trust which runs Sandwell Hospital ordered to improve

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) ruled the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust had not done enough since its last inspection and remains rated as "requires improvement".

Inspectors flagged up issues around "cleanliness and infection control" and the storage of patient records and medicines. There was not always enough nurses available to provide safe care and staff did not always know how to support patients with mental health problems, the CQC's report said.

The trust was rated as "outstanding" for being caring but concerns elsewhere dragged down the overall grading.

Bosses have been told they must make sure the A&E department is clean and that a "robust plan" is in place to keep children safe overnight.

Other concerns were raised about leadership on the care of children and young people. The trust was rated as "inadequate" for being well-led in this area, where staff "did not feel respected, valued, supported or appreciated by senior leaders".

The CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, said: “Our overall rating for Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust has remained as requires improvement as we did not find sufficient change across the trust, compared with our inspection in 2017. More work is clearly needed to improve the way in which the trust delivers care.

“Inspectors found improvements were needed with regard to cleanliness and infection control, the way patient records and medicines were being stored and managed and the communication and governance around the management of risks.

“However, the trust is rated as outstanding for the key question we ask about whether services are caring or not and we found that staff were passionate about the people they served. It was evident in everything they did that care was genuinely and truly patient-centred. This included community services.

“We will continue to monitor the trust and our inspectors will return at a later date to check on what progress has been made.”

Trust chief executive Toby Lewis said services had improved and that bosses would strive to deliver further changes.

He said: “We are pleased that no safety concerns remain in our ratings table. Obviously our work to achieve a trust-wide Good rating continues, and our community services for both children and adults reach that mark already. We know that for acute services we have more room for improvement.

“Most pleasingly, we have maintained our Outstanding rating for Caring. This is a tribute to the hard work and compassion of our teams across the organisation.

“We continue to make improvements in the services we provide to our patients and we will: Ensure that all our staff are fully aware of the requirements under the mental capacity act, continue to encourage an open culture so that all colleagues feel supported in raising any issues of concern through our many speak up routes, focus on clear ways to share learning across the trust, make sure that the way we understand and manage risks is well-understood in all services and departments."