Leicester hospitals must improve, CQC says

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust which runs Leicester's hospitals, that it must make improvements after it was rated as ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection.

The inspection examined services in urgent & emergency services, medical care, surgery, critical care, maternity and gynaecology, children & young people, end of life care, outpatients and diagnostic Imaging.

While the inspectors maintained that the trust was ‘good’ for caring overall in all departments, it found improvements still needed to be made in safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and leadership.

The CQC report outlined: “Although the overall rating we gave the trust in this inspection was the same as they were awarded in their 2014 inspection, we did find improvements had been made. These were particularly evident in staff engagement and confidence in the leadership team.”

CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, commented: “Although we found poor performance during our inspection, the trust recognised it needed to make improvements to how it managed the care of deteriorating patients and sepsis. Evidence we have received since our inspection shows the trust’s improvement plans are having an impact.

“Inspectors observed some areas of good practice and found patents were treated with kindness, dignity and respect. Staff commented on the positive culture change in the trust under the current Chief Executive’s leadership.”

Responding to the rating, John Adler, Leicester’s Hospitals chief executive said: “We were also honest with the CQC about the challenges that we face. We told them that we are steadily improving quality whilst dealing with large increases in demand. That we were working better with our partners to tackle longstanding strategic issues such as emergency care, and that along the way we were building a more empowered culture. All these things are reflected in the CQC report."