By Vivienne Russell
29 June 2010
An Essex hospital has improved its patient care enough to meet two out of five registration conditions imposed on it by the Care Quality Commission.
Since April 1, all NHS providers are required by law to be registered with the CQC and must show they are meeting all essential standards.
The CQC said today that Basildon & Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had made the necessary improvements to maternity services and patient care plans at its Basildon site and had done so within the prescribed deadlines.
But the inspectorate added that there was still some way to go before Basildon Hospital had improved enough to have the three remaining conditions on the trust’s registration lifted.
These concern the appropriate training of staff caring for acutely ill patients, systems for staff supervision and appraisal, and action to make premises safe from legionella infection. Deadlines of July and August apply.
Frances Carey, CQC regional director, said the trust had made ‘great strides forward in turning around what were serious shortcomings, and it deserves credit for doing so’.
But she added that there was still much for the trust to do, with inspectors identifying improvements to be made in the accident & emergency department, particularly the observation of acutely ill patients in the waiting area.
‘We will continue to monitor the trust’s progress, to make more unannounced visits if necessary, and to take any further action that we deem necessary to make sure the trust gets it right,’ Carey said.
Problems with A&E were among those that prompted the CQC and foundation trust regulator Monitor to intervene at Basildon & Thurrock in November last year. Other concerns covered infection control, mortality rates and the quality of care for people with learning disabilities. The regulators demanded that immediate action be taken to protect patients.
