A Bradford hospital has been told to improve following the results of an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who are responsible for Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI), have been told to comply with the national standards of quality and safety.
Following an unannounced one day inspection in September 2013 and an unannounced four day inspection in October 2013, the CQC’s report identified that the Trust was failing to meet four of the six national standards.
The CQC’s most significant issue was the number of staff shortages across the wards and departments, particularly in the Accident and Emergency Department (AED).
There were also causes for concern in relation to staffing skill mix in some areas. The inspectors raised concerns that this was impacting directly on the Trust’s ability to provide safe and effective care that fully met patient’s needs.
Results of the inspection have also meant the Trust has been given a formal warning over its failure to keep to the national standards.
Malcolm Bower-Brown, CQC’s Regional Director for the North said: “The issues we identified at the Bradford Royal Infirmary are unacceptable and the Trust must take further action to ensure national standards are met.
“We have warned the Trust that improvements must be made and we continue to monitor the situation closely, to ensure that patients receive the service they are entitled to expect.”
A spokesperson for the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are pleased that the full CQC report highlights areas of good practice and we welcome the opportunities the inspection has given us to make further improvements. The inspection report is complimentary about the service we provide in many areas and includes very positive comments from our patients on the care they receive.
“However, we acknowledge there are areas for improvement and we have taken the concerns raised extremely seriously. Robust action plans have been in place since the CQC inspection in October and we took a number of immediate steps to significantly increase staffing levels. Substantial investment in staff and a sustained recruitment drive have helped us fill vacant and newly established posts and we will continue this process throughout the next few months.
“Our plans include many actions which were already in progress prior to the CQC inspection, and others which have been implemented with immediate effect to improve the process of triage in our Accident and Emergency department and ensure patients are afforded more privacy.
“We are also working closely with our local Clinical Commissioning Groups on initiatives to ease the strain on our A&E department and reduce overcrowding during busy periods.
“We would like to reassure patients that we have taken significant steps to immediately improve standards since the CQC inspection in October and we are confident that measures have been taken which allow us to continue providing safe and effective care that meets patients’ needs.”
Inspectors will return to BRI later this year to make sure the Trust has taken the necessary steps to improve on these concerns.
