Hospital trust must improve - watchdog inspectors say

The Care Quality Commission gave the verdict at the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust-run hospital following its latest inspection.

In it, the CQC said 80 per cent of patients were dealt with within four hours at the hospital’s A&E in February - below the 95 per cent national target.

The report rated three areas – safety, effectiveness and responsiveness – as ‘requiring improvement’.

It also rated management as ‘good’ and level of care as ‘outstanding’.

In a 58-page report, the commission reported on concerns at Sandwell General Hospital which included:

l 80 per cent of patients were dealt with within the target four hours of arrival to A&E in February

l Low staff attendance at mandatory training sessions such as basic life support training

l No formal systems to ensure sufficient competency of temporary staff

l Resuscitation trolleys, containing fluids, not locked and potentially could have been tampered with

l Patient records contained errors and omissions

In the report, Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals, said: “The trust must take action to ensure patients are treated within one hour of arriving, the trust must take action to ensure patients are admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of arrival in the emergency department.

“The trust must take effective action to mitigate the increasing risk to patients from overcrowding in the emergency department.”

The report also highlighted concerns over the reporting of ‘Never Events’.

These are incidents which are serious, but are preventable.

From February last year to March this year, at Sandwell General there were two such incidents. One saw an operation start on a different part of an arm to where one was required.

There was also 28 ‘medication related incidents’ at Rowley Regis Hospital last year.

The report labelled care at the hospital ‘inadequate’ as part of the inspection.

But the inspection report also found many ‘good’ areas, scoring 70 per cent of areas, which include surgery, critical care and medical care as ‘good’.

It rated end-of-life care at Sandwell General Hospital as ‘outstanding’ after excellent feedback from patients.

The medical service at the rehabilitation ward ‘Newton 4’ was also judged as ‘outstanding’ , with inspectors praising staff for their enthusiasm and passion.

The trust was scored highly in a staff survey, where it showed people had the confidence to report unsafe clinical practice.

In a list of actions the trust must make to improve, the report gave 14 targets for Sandwell General Hospital’s emergency department.

They included creating a ‘safe room’ for patients with mental health problems, ensuring the security and safety of staff and speeding up the time patients are dealt with. Hospital trusts have a target to deal with 95 per cent of patients at A&E within the four-hour time.

On the topic of medical care service, there were six areas where improvement was required, including ensuring staff are up to date with basic life support training.

And finally, under the heading of surgery, five areas highlighted included ensuring patient records and complete and accurate.

Ian McGarry, spokesman for Healthwatch Sandwell, which campaigns on behalf of patients for a better health service, said: “It is disappointing for the hospital and for people who use it, and we hope that the hospital will do all it can to improve the services for patients.”

He added: “We are happy to work with the hospital to assist in improving services.”

Toby Lewis, chief executive at the hospital trust: “I would like to thank the Care Quality Commission inspectors for their reports.

"We are all pleased that they recognised real improvement since the Trust was inspected in 2014.

"I am delighted with the rating for our innovative partnership for end of life care, which we believe is one of the best services in the country, and underlines our strong tradition of partnership on the patch.

"The service is a role model for the wider STP.

“I want to pay tribute to our clinical teams for their continued dedication and compassion, which is well reflected in the report.

"There is no complacency at all, and our work to improve emergency care on our adult wards continues.

"The good well led rating is particularly pleasing given our commitment to developing clinical leaders and emphasising devolved responsibility within a wider system."

Sandwell General Hospital has 460 beds.

The trusts serves 530,000 people and employs around 7,500 staff members.

The inspection took place over seven days in February, March and April.