This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Special measures for London's largest teaching trust
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is to be placed in special measures after being rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The trust, which comprises St George's and Queen Mary's hospitals, employs 9,000 staff and serves 1.3 million people.
The CQC rated that George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as inadequate overall, and reported that several of St George's buildings, including operating theatres, were so poorly maintained that they were not fit for purpose.
Additionally, it found that staff did not always follow infection control procedures and that wards for children and young people with mental health issues had not been fully safety checked. Moreover, there was insufficient mental health assessment capacity.
Reporting on the emergency services, the CQC stated that the emergency department was too small for the number of patients it dealt with and patients' dignity was therefore compromised.
The trust has commented that it had made ‘real progress’ since the June inspection, with the trust rated as good for caring, rated as outstanding for kidney patient survival rate and kidney transplants and rated as outstanding for maternity and gynaecology services.
Sir David Henshaw, interim hospital trust chairman, said that there would be ‘no quick fix to the problems’, and said that many of the challenges the trust faced were ‘due to very poor board and senior management decisions’. Henshaw is part of a new leadership team.
Prof Sir Mike Richards, CQC chief inspector of hospitals, said: "I am disappointed we have found a marked deterioration in the safety and quality of some of the trust's services since we inspected two years ago, as well as in its overall governance and leadership."
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