King George and Queen’s Hospital trust still Requires Improvement yet is succeeding in staff leadership
King George Hospital. The trust which runs the Goodmayes site and Romford's Queen's Hospital has been rated as Requires Improvement by CQC. Picture: Ken Mears - Credit: Archant
Improvements still need to be made at Queen’s and King George hospitals but inspectors have noted the trust is “moving in the right direction” when it comes to staff leadership.
Philip Dunne, then health minister, visited Queen's Hospital's trainee nursing associates in 2017. Picture: Queen's Hospital - Credit: Queen's Hospital
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has deemed that overall Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) still Requires Improvement.
The trust, which runs the Romford and Goodmayes hospitals, was already rated Good for caring, but has now also received a Good rating for effective and well-led services.
Professor Ted Baker, England's chief inspector of hospitals, said: "[BHRUT] is definitely moving in the right direction.
"There were also a number of areas where we saw some outstanding practice which was very encouraging.
"I would like to see the trust striving to improve safety and responsiveness in a bid to attain a Good overall rating and most importantly better care for its patients."
From September 3 to November 14 last year, the CQC inspected urgent and emergency services cross both sites, and services for children and outpatients at King George Hospital in Barley Lane.
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The inspectors concluded that the trust must improve in ensuring that the paediatric emergency department at Queen's Hospital in Rom Valley Way, is sufficiently staffed with qualified paediatric trained staff.
Critical care action points for never events must be implemented in a timely manner, and BHRUT needs to improve how it processes and monitors outpatients.
The inspectors were impressed with BHRUT's new nursing associate role and how it has "significantly improved" staffing levels.
Other outstanding practices included end of life care at Queen's Hospital with mortuary visits for staff to help them understand the importance of care after death.
Chris Bown, interim chief executive at BHRUT, said: "While we know there is still much more to do, I am delighted that inspectors have recognised our steady progress; rated us as good in three of the domains, including well-led; and praised our kind and compassionate staff and the high quality of care we provide to our patients every day."
Chairman Joe Fielder added: "I was also pleased that inspectors recognised we are working hard to improve our finances, despite challenging circumstances, and that NHS Improvement has moved our use of resources rating from 'inadequate', to 'requires improvement'."
Visit cqc.org.uk/provider/RF4 to read the full report.
