St Mary’s Hospital on Isle of Wight told to improve emergency care after CQC inspection
Urgent actions needed for emergency department at St Mary’s Hospital
Urgent and emergency care at St Mary’s Hospital on the Isle of Wight has been rated as requires improvement following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in February.
The hospital, operated by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, serves an island population of approximately 140,000 people, many of whom are over 65.
Despite the hospital as a whole being rated good, inspectors identified several issues specifically within the emergency department, which prompted the CQC to issue a warning notice.
A particular concern was the lengthy waiting times faced by patients, compounded by inefficient monitoring of the waiting room.
Inspectors noted that staff visibility was limited, hindering their ability to respond quickly to deteriorating conditions.
In some cases, inspectors had to intervene to assist distressed patients.
The hospital was reported to not meet NHS standards for seeing patients within four hours of arrival, with some experiencing waits longer than 12 hours before being admitted.
Physical and procedural shortcomings were highlighted, including environmental risks with patients occasionally being placed in corridor spaces, obstructing access to emergency facilities.
There was also insufficient management of ligature risks, with no ligature-free toilets in the department, posing a risk to those in a mental health crisis.
Despite these issues, the inspection recognised the positive culture among staff and their collaboration across departments.
This provides a foundation for future improvements, with staff demonstrating care coordination across dementia, learning disability, and end-of-life teams.
Staff were commended for their openness to raise concerns, an important factor in identifying risks.
The trust has since formulated an action plan to address urgent concerns and has assured the CQC of ongoing efforts to rectify them.
Further observations include:
Urgent and Emergency Services
The inspection flagged that leaders hadn’t guaranteed staff access to vital information about patients’ mental health risks.
However, targets for ambulance handovers were consistently met, with most completed within 15 minutes.
Medical Care
The report praised the positive learning culture, where staff accurately recorded incidents.
Feedback mechanisms were in place to prevent recurrence, aiding continuous improvement.
While staff displayed kindness and respect, and engaged people in care decisions, staffing levels were sometimes inadequate to meet 1-2-1 care needs.
Safeguarding concerns persisted, with some staff not fully trained, risking failure to identify or escalate potential harm or abuse.
The CQC will publish the full inspection report on its website in the coming days.