NDHT pleased with CQC recognition of achievements

In September 2014 Northern Devon Healthcare Trust was reported as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ for the majority of the services provided (six of the eight areas inspected), and was required to make improvements in three specific aspects of care at North Devon District Hospital (NDDH): end of life care, emergency and urgent care and maternity and gynaecology services.

This time the inspectors visited between 5 and 7 August 2015 with a further unannounced visit on 17 August.

The report published on 3 November demonstrates that inspectors saw the improvements and progress the Trust had made in these three areas (end of life, emergency and urgent, maternity and gynaecology).

Chief Executive, Dr Alison Diamond said: “We are really pleased that the CQC has recognised the improvements we have made across these aspects of care. We are particularly pleased our end of life services provided within our community hospitals and our health and social care teams have improved to a ‘good’ rating. This is a fantastic achievement for our patients and our staff who have worked so hard to improve the consistency and responsiveness of care we offer to patients near the end of their lives.”

The CQC also highlighted areas of outstanding practice including improvements in infection prevention and control measures in A&E, regular audits and good compliance with Trust policies, as well as the recent open day by the maternity unit which showcased a number of health and wellbeing opportunities and information for people using the services.

The report makes clear that the Trust still has improvements to make in terms of patient flow through the North Devon District Hospital and staffing ratios in A&E.

Dr Diamond said: “Although the performance indicators show the Trust has consistently met the national target across emergency and urgent care services - reaching the 95% four hour wait target in 10 of the last 12 months - we recognise that there is further work to be done to ensure that patients within the hospital can be discharged safely and on time.

“The A&E 4-hour target does more than show how well NDDH is managing patients, it also shows the pressures and blockages across the whole system in northern Devon.

“To help us understand these pressures we recently held two ‘Perfect Weeks’ supported by the national emergency care intensive support team. The initiative brought partners from health, social care, mental health, primary care and the voluntary sector to focus on how to improve patient flow, access and experience of our services. These are incredibly challenging issues to solve and we appreciate the input from our partners in helping get this right for patients. Another Perfect Week is planned for January to enable to continue to monitor progress on this.

“We are committed to completing the remaining actions and thank the CQC for their constructive comments.”