Health watchdog tells Rotherham General Hospital to improve following inspection

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors revisited the hospital in March, to assess whether improvements had been made to the care and treatment provided to people since the last inspection.

The hospital was rated as requires improvement following an inspection last June, and was issued with a warning notice, which identified the actions the hospital needed to take in order to comply with its legal obligations.

The CQC inspected the service again in March, but found there was “still work to be done to ensure the service meets the standards of care that people have a right to expect”.

Rotherham General Hospital remains rated as ‘requires improvement’ overall and for being safe, effective and well-led. It is rated ‘good’ for being caring and responsive.

The report following the inspection found that “the trust did not demonstrate that all designated areas for the assessment of patients with mental health conditions were safe”.

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It added: “The trust did not demonstrate that all patients’ could call for help when needed.

“We saw one example of a patient whose condition had deteriorated whilst in the waiting room and had not been escalated to the nurse in charge.

“When we highlighted this, we were told that the patient needed to be moved to resuscitation.

“We continued to find that not all areas were clean and we saw used equipment in cubicles which had not been disposed of correctly.”

Inspectors found that the trust had implemented new processes to ensure “timely and effective safeguarding” for both adult and paediatric patients, and new systems for completing risk assessments and for ensuring oversight of patients in the waiting room had been put in place.

A spokesperson for the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust welcomed inspectors from the Care QualityCommission in March 2022, who carried out an inspection of our Urgent and Emergency Care Centre.

“The CQC inspection report, published today, highlights a number of improvements the trust has made since our previous inspections.

“The report also highlights a number of areas where further improvements are required.

“In response, we are continuing to follow through on our action plans and embed changes to ensure our patients receive high quality care.

“As a trust, we welcome the findings of this report and we will use the learning from the CQC to continue to develop and grow our services to meet the needs of our patients, building on the improvements we have already made.”

Sarah Dronsfield, head of hospital inspection at CQC, said: “Although some improvements had been made at Rotherham General Hospital since the last inspection, there are still some areas of concern.

“We found staff didn’t always assess or manage the risks to patients physical or mental health.

“Also, the trust didn’t ensure all patients had access to a call bell, or make sure they were responded to quickly when patients needed support.

“Additionally, equipment and premises weren’t always clean and personal protective equipment wasn’t consistently used to manage the risk of infection.

“However, patients’ dignity and privacy was respected and critical medicines were being given when required.

“We will continue to monitor the hospital.”