The North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust manages Peterborough City Hospital. Following an unannounced inspection during July, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the hospital as “requires improvement”. That assessment revealed egregious deficiencies in the hospital’s emergency medical care. It uncovered shocking wait lists and a lack of personnel.
As referenced in the latest CQC inspection, it followed months of concern regarding delayed discharges. It looked at where and how care is coordinated for patients with mental health conditions. The shocking report found that patients were waiting more than 12 hours to be seen in emergency departments. This reality was further compounded by a lack of full-strength staffing.
Stuart Dunn, the CQC’s deputy director of operations in the region, noted, “In urgent and emergency care services, although we found leadership had improved, people were waiting too long to be seen, more than 12 hours in some cases, and quite often due to staff shortages.” He noted that these shortages delayed the hospital’s ability to rapidly triage patients in danger of health deterioration.
The CQC’s report pointed out that over the course of one month, more than 250 patients were relocated to different wards during the night, raising concerns about the hospital’s capacity to manage care effectively. Despite these challenges the trust recently started a new acute virtual ward programme. Since its launch last year, it has allegedly saved 2,500 hospital admissions. This cutting-edge approach to patient care has been called a game changer in the fight against prescription opioid misuse.
Jo Bennis, chief nurse at the trust, stated, “We have been able to reduce the number of instances where we have needed to provide corridor care and have a dedicated improvement workstream in place to address patient moves, discharge processes and delivering the fundamentals of care.” This project will improve the patient experience during continued staffing challenges.
The CQC’s findings, while disappointing, shine a light on important areas that we must urgently address. They are impressed by the trust’s efforts to push the envelope and improve patient-centered care. Following the publication of the report, we call upon North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust to address these alarming matters as a priority. It shines a light on the urgent need for patients to receive timely, effective, and equitable healthcare services.
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