A review of East London’s Whipps Cross University Hospital has received the lowest rating in a review of surgery, diagnostics and outpatient care. The hospital, run by Barts Health NHS Trust, was placed in special measures last year over care quality concerns.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: “Overall, we have rated the service provided by Whipps Cross as inadequate. In particular, surgery was rated inadequate because of concerns around safety, responsiveness and leadership. Quite clearly the trust must now focus on these areas as a priority.”
Although inspectors noted “important” improvements in Whipps Cross safety and effectiveness since their last inspection, particularly in respect of its maternity and gynaecology services for young people, they noticed that the pace of improvement was too slow, with pockets of poor culture still existing such as evidence of bullying and inequality. This appears to be a longstanding problem at the trust.
Some of the problems found at Whipps Cross were lack of compassion towards patients in end of life care by failing to provide them with pain relief medication, inconsistencies with providing women on maternity units with one-to-one care during labour as well as failure to meet national A&E waiting time targets which is to address at least 95% of patients within four hours of arrival.
Barts Health chief executive Alwen Williams said: “We must tackle all areas where we are still letting patients down. Barts Health will leave no stone unturned to further improve care.”
The CQC’s report has proposed a number of areas of improvement for Whipps Cross Hospital. This includes the hospital to improve its bed, theatre and discharge arrangements and to also encourage better patient flow through the hospital. The hospital has also been urged to ensure patients’ pain is monitored and acted upon appropriately.
Divya Anand, Clinical Negligence Solicitor at Duncan Lewis states the following,
“It is great that the Trust is seeking to improve their overall service by ensuring there is focus on any areas of concern raised in the CQC report. Whilst most NHS Trusts in the UK strive to provide excellent care to patients, there are times where certain requirements such as assessing patients in A&E within the national time targets are being overlooked. The results can be disastrous for those who have attended A&E with serious injuries but are not being provided with prompt treatment. We encourage this particular NHS Trust to continue improving its services.”
Divya Anand, is a Clinical Negligence Solicitor at Duncan Lewis who has experience with handling multiple clinical negligence claims including cerebral palsy, gynaecological claims and orthopaedic injuries.
Duncan Lewis’ broad clinical negligence practice handles a vast array of claims, from accident and emergency failures to GP negligence claims, to misdiagnosed fractures to wrongful death matters. Duncan Lewis’ Clinical Negligence team has significant experience acting in claims for children and adults who have suffered profound and permanent brain, spinal or neurological injuries and associated disabilities as a consequence of failings in medical care in both NHS and private hospitals. They also act for clients in cases arising from obstetric, neo-natal, paediatric, anaesthetic, neurological, spinal, surgical, cardiac and emergency care and consequent disability resulting from these.