Royal Berks 'at highest risk' of providing poor care

THE Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust will face inspection after being identified as a hospital posing the highest risk of providing poor care.
Each of the 161 trusts reviewed by the Care Quality Commission were placed into bands according to risk, with one being the highest and six the lowest.
The Royal Berkshire NHS Trust is one of 24 to have been placed within band one, and as a result will face inspection next year.
The report highlighted four ‘elevated risk’ areas – weekend death rates, deaths from gastroenterological and hepatological conditions, whistleblowing alerts by staff, and neo-natal re-admissions.
In addition, five risk areas were identified as ‘never event' incidence (referring to serious mistakes that should never happen), deaths from respiratory conditions and procedures, governance risk rating, the number of health workers who have a flu vaccine and the number of staff receiving health and safety training in the last 12 months.
Hampshire Hospitals NHS FoundationTrust was placed in band four, with four risks and one elevated risk identified.
Meanwhile, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust has been put in band three, with four ‘risks’ and two elevated ‘risks’ recorded.
The chief executive of The Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust, Ed Donald, said: “While the trust was a little surprised to be part of the band one group, we are very keen to work with the CQC to learn more about the new inspection approach and how we can use this information to further improve the quality of care for our patients.”
The monitoring looked at 150 different indicators, covering a range of information including patient and staff experience and statistical measures of performance.
It said that the findings will help it identify and respond more quickly to hospitals where there is a risk that people might not be receiving safe, effective, high quality care.
The inspections will be carried out by larger expert teams that include professional and clinical staff and members of the public who use care, and these trusts will be the first to be ranked as outstanding, good, requiring improvement or inadequate.
It is the first time such comprehensive data has been pulled together in this way.
In August, the Newbury Weekly News reported how the hospital was under investigation after repeatedly breaching accident and emergency waiting times.
Health sector watchdog Monitor launched an enquiry into the trust after it was found to have breached the national A&E quarterly target three times in a 21-month period. The national target states that 95 per cent of patients should be seen within four hours of arrival. Monitor said that it was concerned that persistent failures to meet this could signal wider governance problems at the trust.
The regulator opened a formal investigation into whether the trust has breached the conditions of its licence to provide healthcare services.