Surgery at Bath's RUH rated 'good' by inspectors
They have commended the care given by staff
Last updated 30th Oct 2024
Surgical services at Bath's Royal United Hospital has been rated 'good' by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission - after making unannounced visits to three wards between March and June this year.
They have once again rated surgical services 'good overall' - which is also the same rating given to the hospital for being safe, caring, effective, and well-led.
As there have been no rating changes at service level, the overall rating of the hospital remains unaffected at requires improvement, and the overall rating for the trust remains good.
Neil Cox, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, said: “At Royal United Hospital Bath’s surgery services, we found staff and leaders worked well together to deliver safe, people-centred care.
“The trust had a cultural improvement programme in place, and we saw signs this was helping to make the services a better place to work and providing safer, more effective care. The service had a shared vision and there was a proactive and positive culture of safety among staff.
“We saw staff treated people with kindness and compassion, taking their individual needs into account. Inspectors spoke to several people on the wards and all of them praised staff, noting they were attentive to their needs. One person said nothing was too much trouble for the staff on their ward, and another spoke of their calmness and professionalism. Staff should be extremely proud of the care they’re providing to people using the service
“The service had identified safety risks in the care and environment of the surgical services and were taking steps to mitigate these. They were also auditing how well the service performed to ensure it met the required standards.
“During the inspection we received a complaint about patient confidentiality on Forrester Brown ward. We found space was limited and some staff safety briefings happened in areas where people were being treated, which meant people’s personal information could be overheard. Staff across all wards did their best to close doors and conduct quiet handovers at nurse stations to avoid overheard conversations.
“We identified some small areas for improvement and have told the trust where these are. We will continue to monitor them to ensure they’re building on their good work to make those changes.”
Out of what they assessed, inspectors found:
- Staff had the right skills and experience
- Staff were approachable and openly discussed compassionate care, ensuring people with protected characteristics received individualised support
- Staff emphasised treating people equally and without judgement
- Medicines were generally stored and managed safely
- Staff understood duty of candour and were open and honest with people when things went wrong
- Process were in place to mitigate staff shortages
The CQC say they have requested an action plan from the trust around some safety concerns.
This included how the trust reviewed incidents, fire risk assessments, and auditing how they monitored people’s food and fluid intake and blood clot assessments when people were admitted to the surgical wards.
Cara Charles-Barks, RUH Chief Executive, said: “This is an overwhelmingly positive report which highlights the excellent work that is taking place across the RUH’s surgery service.
“I was particularly pleased that inspectors concluded that staff should be extremely proud of the care they’re providing to our people who are accessing this service.
“We are committed to consistently providing the people we care for with the very best levels of service and this report underlines the people-centred care that is provided for patients at the RUH.
"We already have plans in place to address the areas that we need to improve on."