Barnsley Hospice still rated inadequate and in special measures
It's following the latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told leaders at Barnsley Hospice that they must make further improvements to the quality of services following an inspection in January.
CQC previously inspected the hospice last year, when it was rated inadequate overall and placed in special measures. Urgent conditions were also imposed on the provider’s registration highlighting necessary improvements to ensure patients were safe.
During this latest inspection, CQC found Barnsley Hospice had made some improvements, but there remained significant concerns. The overall rating therefore remains inadequate and the hospice is still placed in special measures.
Ratings for being safe and well-led also remain rated as inadequate, being effective remains rated as requires improvement and caring remains rated as good. Being responsive has improved from inadequate to requires improvement.
Sarah Dronsfield, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said:
“It’s concerning that, despite issuing urgent conditions on the provider’s registration to ensure the leadership team brought about immediate and urgent improvements, there were still some breaches which hadn’t been addressed since our last inspection.
“These breaches include ensuring incidents are properly reported and investigated, and that learning is shared to prevent similar incidents occurring. The service must also ensure effective systems are in place to manage risks to patients.
“We’ll continue to monitor the service closely and will return to inspect to see what improvements have been made. At that point, if we’re not satisfied sufficient changes have been made and embedded, we won’t hesitate to take further enforcement action to keep people safe.”
At this inspection inspectors found:
-Staff did not have training in key skills and did not manage safety well.
-The service did not always control infection risk well and while staff assessed risks to patients, they did not always act on them.
-Safety incidents were not always managed well, and staff did not learn lessons from them.
-The provider did not ensure staff understood their responsibilities when obtaining appropriate consent. Staff did not always gain consent from patients for their care and treatment in line with legislation and guidance.
-Systems were not in always in place to make sure risk was identified and managed.
-Previously services were not designed to support patients with mental health or learning difficulties. At this inspection these patients were still not included in any service strategies or developments. In addition, the hospice did not have clear admission criteria, which could result in the exclusion of specific patient groups.
However:
-The service had enough staff to keep patients safe and medicines were managed well.
-Patient feedback was generally positive.
-Staff felt valued and praised the new leadership team following the departure of several senior staff, this had improved from the last inspection.
-The new leadership team demonstrated a genuine willingness to learn, improve and build a sustainable quality service for the future.