But it's OK - the Hospital bought an APP, so everything's alright.
St Peter's Hospital inspection lists catalogue of failures
including blocked fire doors, unsecured medication and infection risks
The Care Quality Commission made an unannounced visit to the Chertsey hospital in September last year.
By
Zosia Eyres,
11 JAN 2018
Despite praise for its "compassionate" staff, a
catalogue of failings was documented during the latest inspection of St Peter's
Hospital .
Blocked fire exits, unsecured medication, infection risks and
potentially unreliable emergency equipment were all spotted at the Chertsey
hospital by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The unannounced visit on September 19 last year was focused
on nursing care on the medical wards after the CQC said it received
"information of concern".
Although Get Surrey
reported that the hospital had 460 unfilled posts in November , inspectors were "satisfied that
staffing was planned and numbers of staff and skill mix were of a satisfactory
standard" on the day of the visit.
However, the CQC report, published on Tuesday (January 9),
reveals that 40% of staff on the acute care Aspen ward were "not up to
date with mandatory training".During the visit, a suction catheter was seen lying on the floor, stained scissors were found in the wrong place, the utility room was dirty - and contained six bags of used disposable bedpans - and paint was peeling, posing an infection risk.
Furthermore, inspectors judged that a lack of consistency in the availability of equipment, for example there was no oxygen mask between two beds, "presented a risk of confusing or delaying staff responding to an emergency".
In terms of equipment, a resuscitation trolley was found to
not have the suction tubing attached, which meant it was "not ready for
use in an emergency". And an automatic defibrillator had not been tested
regularly in line with policy, meaning that it "might not function in an
emergency
Medicine storage was found to be "not secure" on
two wards; the report describes how on Cherry ward, the clinical room where
medicines were stored had a key pad but at the time of inspection the key pad
was fixed open and the room was not secure.
On Swift ward further drug cupboards and a drug trolley were
found unlocked - and the medicine fridge temperature was not checked on two
days during the week before the inspection.
A number of blocked - and one broken - fire exits were
noted, including one which had a chair behind it which "could act as a
source of fuel in a fire". Following the CQC's visit an email was sent out
reminding staff of fire safety and a commitment was made to complete a fire
audit check across the hospital.
However, despite these failings, patients spoken to
"across all ward areas were positive about the care they had
received".
One patient told inspectors that staff "understood
their condition" and described them as "very good and
compassionate".
The CQC spoke to employees about their experience at the
hospital and was told that the atmosphere was "open and transparent"
and that they felt "supported by the senior staff".
Good practice was additionally noted with regards to
"the strategy and initiatives to prevent and monitor pressure
ulcers", as well as "the planning and delivery of nursing care".
Following the visit, the CQC gave the hospital a list of
things that it must and should improve.
Chief nurse at St Peter's, Sue Tranka, said: “We are always
very open to visits by the CQC and welcome their feedback and report. Whilst we
recognise there are areas for improvement, we were encouraged to see many good
areas of practice noted by the inspectors."
The Care Quality Commission's conclusions
Action the hospital MUST take to improve:
• The trust must ensure that all
fire exits are kept clear and ward staff are aware of their responsibility to
maintain this.
• The trust must ensure the safe
storage and security of medicines.• The trust must ensure safety checks and services on patient equipment are consistently completed.
Action the hospital SHOULD take to improve
• Support and enable all staff to complete mandatory training
• Continue its strategy to make safety thermometer information more accessible to staff and patients.
Responding to the concerns raised, nurse Tranka said the
identified issues are "not widespread problems across the hospitals".
Nurse Tranka said: "The app has been really successful, so our challenge going into this year is how we embed this good practice across our other wards.
"With regards to our mandatory training, the report
refers to us not reaching our target of 90% of staff being up-to-date with
their training requirements.
"This is an ambitious target (which recognises the importance of this training) and last year we achieved 81% - which benchmarks well against other local acute trusts.
"When our hospitals are very busy we need to prioritise the needs of our patients and training sessions do get pushed back.
"We need to find ways to make training more accessible – such as e-learning modules – and we will be focusing on that this year.”
"This is an ambitious target (which recognises the importance of this training) and last year we achieved 81% - which benchmarks well against other local acute trusts.
"When our hospitals are very busy we need to prioritise the needs of our patients and training sessions do get pushed back.
"We need to find ways to make training more accessible – such as e-learning modules – and we will be focusing on that this year.”
As it was a focused
inspection, the hospital's overall 'Requires improvement' rating from its 2015 report was not changed.
Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
