Three Essex hospitals receive ratings downgrade following CQC inspection
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust says it has improved since the CQC visited and that it has "made real and lasting positive changes to the services"
The Care Quality Commission has released reports on three Essex hospitals Children and Young people's services.
Basildon, Broomfield and Southend hospitals all received reduced ratings following inspections in November 2024, with a warning notice being issued to the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
Inspectors found that Basildon University Hospital had staff under "severe pressure, often working without breaks in an overcrowded paediatric assessment unit where up to 20 children were cared for in a space designed for six."
"Staff didn't always feel supported by senior leaders and felt undervalued. They also didn't feel able to influence the future vision and values of the service. "
"Families told CQC staff were kind, but inspectors found communication was poor, information wasn’t always tailored to children’s needs, and waits for treatment were too long."
At Broomfield Hospital, they found that: "Leaders had allowed a poor safety culture to develop where staff were afraid to raise concerns due to fear of reprisals."
"Young people and families told inspectors care between departments wasn't always timely, leading to long waiting times. They weren't always told what was going to happen and why. "
And at Southend University Hospital, inspectors found that: "Leaders didn’t always provide staff with effective support or the skills needed to deliver safe care."
"However, people described staff as kind and supportive, and families were involved in discussion about care and were able to raise concerns and were informed about their child’s care. "
"The majority of families told inspectors they felt informed and included in discussions about their child’s care, and that staff had listened to them and acknowledged their concerns. "
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has responded to this report, stating that: "Children and Young People’s services have improved since CQC visited in November 2024."
"While inspectors recognised some areas of good practice, including that staff were kind and supportive, there were significant areas for improvement."
Nicki Abbott, Managing Director of Women’s and Children’s services at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“We know this report makes difficult reading. This was absolutely not where we wanted to be, and we acted quickly to make significant improvements following the CQC visit back in November last year.
“We can evidence that we have made real and lasting positive changes to the services. While we still have some way to go, we are confident we are providing safe care for families and are committed to making continuing improvements.”
The Trust has made improvements including:
· Better sepsis and safeguarding pathways – addressing concerns around safe care.
· Martha's Rule is available across the three children’s inpatient services, and this provides patients, families and carers the opportunity to request a medical review of their child if they are concerned
· More staff completing required training
· Reviewed care pathways and improved our support for children, parents and carers with learning disabilities and special educational needs
· Better culture and more accountability through roll out of a leadership and management behaviours framework across the Trust
· Increased opportunity to raise concerns through the Freedom to Speak up scheme - with Freedom to Speak up Champions within the service across all three hospitals.
Nicki added that: “We have completed the actions set out in our improvement plan which is due to be sent to the CQC by the end of this month. We are in a very different place to where we were, and we hope to see our warning notice lifted as soon as possible.
“Families can feel confident that our priority is to support our staff to provide consistently safe and high-quality care.”