Chelsea and Westminster Praised By Watchdog after Surprise Inspection
Hospital delighted by report which "clearly illustrates excellent care"
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has been praised by the NHS watchdog the Care Quality Commission following an unannounced inspection over two days in September.
The inspection, which took place over two days in September 2013, assessed the six following standards:
- Respecting and involving people who use services
- Care and welfare of people who use services
- Cleanliness and infection control
- Staffing
- Supporting workers
- Assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision
The extensive inspection observed care in a range of clinical services including A&E, maternity, the paediatric and neonatal units, and the operating theatres. They also visited the Acute Assessment Unit (AAU) and adult surgical and medical wards. They followed the patient pathway from A&E through to the wards so that every step of the patient journey was reviewed.
The Care Quality Commission, in their official report on the inspection, said: " Our overall impression was of the good standards of cleanliness throughout the hospital, the open friendly attitude of all grades of staff and the visible leadership provided in the wards and departments we visited. The majority of patients had had a positive experience of care and treatment at the hospital.
" They had been treated with dignity and respect and understood their care and treatment. They were complimentary about staff and said there were sufficient staff to meet their needs. Care and treatment was planned and delivered in a way that ensured patients’ safety and welfare with risk assessments completed on admission.
" Staff told us they were, in the main, happy and proud to work in the trust. They were keen to promote the trust values of being kind, safe, respectful and excellent to improve the patients’ experience. Staff told us they felt supported, had access to training and were encouraged to develop their skills."
Being deemed fully compliant by the Care Quality Commission there were no remedial actions required of the hospital to be taken, as the standards of care they observed met their quality thresholds.
Patients were interviewed about their care as part of the inspection and comments they shared included:
- all the staff have been polite and seem genuinely interested in how you are feeling
- staff involved me as much as possible in planning the care of my baby
- I am always treated with dignity and respect and the staff have time to speak with me when I have concerns, this ward is amazing
- the staff are always washing their hands and using gel
- I love it on this ward, the nurses are angels
Elizabeth McManus, Director of Nursing and Quality, said: " We are delighted by the feedback we’ve received in our inspection report from independent experts as it clearly illustrates the excellent care and experiences our staff and patients receive at the hospital.
" Every aspect of care –from emergency to inpatient and then discharge – was observed as part of this extensive visit and the fact that the CQC monitored all areas of the patient pathway shows that we are meeting patient need at all stages of their journey when in hospital.
" While we perform very highly against national clinical standards – including having some of the lowest A&E waiting times in England – we always want to do better for our patients and continue to make improvements in reducing noise at night and in encouraging staff to complete their staff surveys so that we can use their confidential feedback to continue to improve working lives.
" I would like to thank those staff involved in the inspection, and indeed our patients, as their thoughts and feelings while working or being treated in hospital are invaluable in how we continue to develop our services to suit the needs of all that we serve."
You can read the full report by the Care Quality Commission here.
November 6, 2013
