Warning issued after inspection at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued a warning notice to Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, following a recent inspection.
Following an inspection in December, at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, a warning notice has been issued to Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to protect patients using the emergency care facilities.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection to look specifically at the safety of urgent and emergency services at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital following concerns CQC received from people using the service, its staff, and visitors.
These concerns were around cleanliness, including that the cubicles were dirty and spilt bodily fluids had not been cleaned up, and also that there had been a small electrical fire in the department, but fire exits were blocked.
Following this inspection safety in the department was again rated as requires improvement, and they were issued a warning notice to make rapid and widespread improvements in fire safety to keep people safe.
The CQC also carried out an inspection in September of the Children's Centre in response to information provided by the trust, which prompted concerns about the safety and quality of the services for children and young people.
The concerns raised to CQC by the trust related to the use of physical restraint and the administration of emergency sedation of young people.
The rating of the Centre remains unchanged as requires improvement.
Catherine Campbell, CQC deputy director of operations in the south said:
“At our inspection we found the services were clean and leaders were able to provide evidence of cleaning audits, although staff weren’t always completing their infection prevention and control training.
“During our inspection of the trust’s services for children and young people, we were concerned to see that bedrooms where young people were staying had no screens to protect their privacy and dignity. We were given examples of when agency staff had de-escalated situations using restraint, without ensuring the privacy of young people.
“Staff did support young people by completing or arranging assessments when they were thought to be at risk of self-harm or suicide.
“We will return to follow up on the progress of the improvements we’ve told them to make. If we have further concerns, we will not hesitate to take further action to keep people safe.”
In response to the inspection a spokesperson for the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:
"We recognise the patients at the heart of the Children Centre inspection should not have been in our hospitals, which is why we took the decision to raise the safety concern and seek support from the CQC.
"The Trust has increased signage for fire exits and all fire exits are checked three times per shift. In addition, the service has completed refresher training for all designated fire wardens and increased mandatory training for fire safety for all staff across the department.
"The Trust is committed to continue working with our staff, families and partners in delivering improvements for our services."