CQC carries out focused inspection at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report following a focused inspection of medical care services at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, looking at the safety of patient care and the wider management of risk across the service.

Inspectors visited five wards at the Southport and Formby District General Hospital in March. This was in response to concerns about the safety of patient care.

During the visit, inspectors observed patient care and spoke with staff and patients. The five medical wards visited were medical emergency assessment unit, general medical/gastroenterology ward (11b), cardiology including coronary care ward (7a), respiratory ward (14b) and the short stay ward (9a).

Due to the specific focus of the inspection, the overall rating for this service and of Southport and Formby District General Hospital did not change and remains as requires improvement. The trust’s overall rating also remains as requires improvement.

Karen Knapton, CQCs head of hospital inspection, said: “I am pleased to report that since the previous inspection in August 2019, we saw a number of improvements had been made on all the wards we visited. 

“Concerns that had been raised to our inspectors had also previously been identified by the trust and were being addressed by the leadership team 

“Staff were positive about the culture, support and visibility of their leadership team.

“Due to the nature of this visit and the time we had to carry out the inspection, we were unable to re-rate the service, however we will return to ensure that further improvements are made and fully embedded.”

UPDATE (13 May): Responding to the report, Trust chief executive Trish Armstrong-Child said: “I am really pleased inspectors found significant improvement since their last inspection across all the areas they reviewed. They also noted staff spoke positively about the culture in the hospital and the support and visibility of the leadership teams on the medical wards.

“These improvements are the result of hard work, compassion and commitment from our dedicated nurses, doctors, all other health professionals, and our non-clinical support teams. We are committed to providing the best care possible to all our patients and will continue to build on these improvements to make sure we consistently deliver safe, high quality care for local people.”

Read the full report here.