Care Quality Commission report of the Emergency Department at Birmingham Children’s Hospital
The Care Quality Commission has published a report following their inspection of the Emergency Department at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.
Whilst there were a number of positive areas highlighted within the report, including the service being rated as “good” for caring the service has been rated as “requires improvement” overall. This has also meant that the Children’s Hospital overall rating has now been set as ‘Good’.
We are of course disappointed with the overall rating for the department and acknowledge the areas where the CQC found that improvements were needed.
An action plan is in place and the Trust is already making progress in the areas identified by inspectors.
They highlighted the need to improve the physical space and highlighted how quickly patients were triaged in the department. As one of the best performing Emergency Department’s in the UK for the national four hour target the Trust has been awarded £5m in funding which will be used to improve the space for patients.
Inspectors also highlighted the need for better mental health training for staff. Prior to the inspection the Trust had already invested significantly in improving mental health education for colleagues and that work is now live and making an impact.
Matthew Boazman, Chief Executive, said: “We are disappointed in the feedback from the CQC.
“Colleagues in our Emergency Department work hard to deliver the best care they can and as a result we are among the best performers in the country for meeting the four hour wait standard.
“Because of this, we have received £5m of capital funding to improve the physical space that will address some of the issues raised in the report.
“We have also set up additional mental health training for staff so that they can provide the best support for patients with mental health concerns. We are pleased that the CQC recognised that staff feel valued and rated the service good for being caring.”
The report also highlighted improvements were needed in mandatory training compliance and infection control audits.
The CQC noted the staff respected people’s privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They also acknowledged efforts to actively recruit additional staff.
The full report can be found here.