Northampton General Hospital has been warned it must take urgent action to improve its emergency care department after concerns were raised with patient safety, wait times and corridor care.
On March 21, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Northampton General Hospital’s (NGH) Urgent and Emergency Care services and issued a Section 29a notice. This is used when an inspection determines that considerable improvement is required in the quality of health care and establishes a timetable for action.
The hospital has stated that its top objective is to deliver “safe, compassionate, and high-quality care” and has apologized to any patients and families who may have been impacted.
The care watchdog discovered substantial concerns about patient safety, lengthy stays in the Emergency Department, ambulance handover delays, and patients’ privacy and dignity being jeopardised as a result of the use of corridor care. According to hospital records, the CQC inspection occurred at a “particularly busy period” for NGH.
According to data from the University Hospitals Group (UHN) meeting earlier this month, nearly 13,000 people visited A&E in February, during the two-day inspection. The hospital’s aim for the month was significantly lower, at 8,000 visits.
NGH reported that this resulted in overcrowding of the service and a negative patient experience. Handover delays from ambulances were also common, with 528 patients waiting more than an hour to be transferred to the emergency department.
The hospital reported that the CQC recognized the “compassion, commitment, and professionalism” of hospital colleagues when it visited the services on February 18-19, despite concerns voiced about elements of care.
Inspectors considered issuing a Section 31, a more serious enforcement notice, to the hospital, but decided against it after receiving NGH’s thorough remediation plan. The trust will now be kept under review until June to ensure that progress is made.
The hospital claims it has already implemented improvements to its protocols, such as strengthening discharge processes, increasing checks and control for patients cared for in corridors, and increasing staffing. It has also promised to improve leadership presence through senior nurse development, practice’smarter’ bed distribution based on total emergency department time, and identify extra beds in clinical areas to eliminate corridor care.
Chief Nurse at the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Julie Hogg stated: “Providing safe, compassionate, and high-quality care is our top priority, and we are committed to learning from the CQC’s feedback and acting quickly and decisively.” We fully understand the concerns expressed and truly apologize to any patients or families who may have been impacted.
“Since the inspection, we have already taken several quick steps to resolve the issues raised. We have also created a comprehensive action plan to achieve major and long-term changes in our urgent and emergency care services, as well as the overall hospital system.”
At the end of a Section 29a warning notice period, the CQC says it conducts another on-site inspection to establish if the trust has met all of the requirements and whether any more action is required.
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