Warrington Hospital “requires improvement”

WARRINGTON Hospital requires improvement, according to the Care Quality Commission.
But Halton General Hospital is rated as “good” – as is the Bath Street Health and Wellbeing Centre in Warrington.
Overall, the Care Quality Commissions (CQC) has rated Warrington and Halton Hospital NHS Trust as “requires improvement” although inspectors found services were caring and effective.
They did not observe any examples of unsafe practice during their visit.
The Trust has welcomed publications of he CQC report which is based on an inspection carried out in January.
They said they had already actioned many of the recommendations made by the CQC, which include improvements to patient flow and strengthening staffing in key areas where there were long term vacancies.
England’s chief inspector of hospitals,  Professor Sir Mike Richards reported that inspectors found that staff were committed and passionate about their work, keen to learn and continuously improve the services they offered to patients.
“There was good leadership and strengthening governance arrangements across the trust. Nursing staff were caring and compassionate and treated patients and those close to them with dignity and respect. Nurses
were committed to giving people a high standard of care and treatment.’
The CQC spent two full days inspecting the trust’s sites in January as part of their comprehensive inspection regime.
Many areas of good practice were cited in the report including:
*Nursing care – nursing staff were caring and compassionate and treated patients and those close to them with dignity and respect. Nurses were committed to giving people a high standard of care and treatment
*Medical staffing – medical treatment was delivered by skilled and committed medical staff.
*Dementia care – the report highlighted excellent practice in the treatment of dementia.
The inspectors also spoke highly of cleanliness and infection control. There was a high standard of cleanliness throughout the hospitals. Staff were aware of current infection prevention and control guidelines
and observed good practice.
However the report did raise several areas that the trust needs to make improvements around.
Patient flow due to the pressure caused by emergency admissions was highlighted in the report. Inspectors noted the impact it had on patients at the time in terms of waiting.
The trust has addressed this as a priority with its partners in health and social care and has improved its A&E performance since January with a return towards the 95 per cent national A&E target – reaching
over 94 per cent in June. A total of 24 intermediate care beds have opened on the Warrington Hospital site that have improved patient flow.
Inspectors also highlighted long term staffing vacancies in key areas, particularly in medical staffing where the trust has struggled to recruit to some posts where there are national shortages and has been dependent on locum staff. However, inspectors noted that all wards and departments were suitably staffed at the time of the inspection.
This continues to be a key area of priority for the trust and since January, eight consultants and 12 specialty doctors have been recruited as well as a consultant midwife, eight midwives, 36 staff nurses and more than 40 health care assistants.
The trust has also prioritised improving mandatory training compliance across its clinical divisions which was seen as variable in places.
Trust chief executive Mel Pickup said: “I’m delighted that the inspectors have rated all of our services as both caring and effective without exception and the report has shown the compassion and dedication of our staff, providing care to our patients every day. We are getting the important basics right for local people and patients and their families spoke highly of the care they had received. I am pleased that staff have been publicly recognised for that and that our flagship dementia unit has attracted the praise it deserves.
“There are areas we need to improve on overall but it has not highlighted anything that we didn’t already know about the trust, or some of the system wide health issues that we were already working on. We’ve already made changes since January improving patient flow and strengthening staffing but there are opportunities to further improve and I am confident that when the CQC visit us again they will see the action that we have taken.
“The trust has been working for some time to recruit to certain staff groups in the context of national shortages and, despite the progress we’re making, the comments made by the CQC in relation to staffing were not unexpected.
“It is important to stress the inspectors did not observe
any staff shortages at the time of the visit or unsafe practice in any areas they visited. We will continue to develop new workforce solutions and in many ways the report reflects issues that many hospitals of our size across the country are facing.”
Dr Andrew Davies, clinical chief officer at NHS Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (pictured) said: “We welcome the CQC report, the findings of which are reflective of issues that we, along with the trust had already identified as areas for improvement. Over the last six months we have
been working with the trust as they have implemented actions to address some of issues and are aware that improvements have already been made.
“We are also very pleased that the report has also highlighted some of the great work that the trust has been doing and the fact that despite some of the issues around staffing levels, staff at the trust have been recognised as being incredibly dedicated, caring and compassionate.”
The full report can be downloaded on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RWW
and via the trust’s transparency section on their website www.whh.nhs.uk