Royal Berkshire Hospital ordered to improve after investigation

Investigations were launched at the hospital in November after concerns that it was failing to meet government targets for patient waiting times and its finances.
The trust must now develop and deliver an action plan, put together with Monitor, to improve its record-keeping procedures after the investigation found that current procedures prevented waiting times from being accurately recorded, making it difficult to measure whether it was meeting national waiting time targets or not.
Improvements must also be made to how senior staff monitor the care that patients receive, after it was also found that there is a lack of clarity around who is accountable for checking on patient care, including identifying and managing potential risks.
The hospital has also been ordered to take steps to eliminate expected deficit after it predicted its financial position would deteriorate over the coming year.
Monitor regional director, Paul Streat, said: “We are taking action to make sure that Royal Berkshire Hospital fixes problems with the way it is being run and its finances.
“We want to make sure that the trust is better organised, so that patients who come to the hospital receive quality care in a timely manner, and this is properly checked and recorded.
“These are long-standing issues which we know the new chief executive has been working to resolve. We will continue to work with the trust to make sure it builds on current efforts to improve for patients in Berkshire.”
The healthcare regulator will monitor the trust’s efforts to improve and will take further action if necessary.
Chief executive of the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, Jean O’Callaghan said: “We recognise there are issues to be addressed.
“We had have been working closely with our regulators and were already aware of all the issues of concern and are working on all of those matters.
“We are determined to ensure the Trust delivers on all its obligations to patients and we will continue to work with Monitor to ensure it is done as quickly as possible.
“Importantly, we would emphasise that, as always, we are providing high quality and safe care for all our patients. Every member of our staff is firmly committed to ensuring that we always do what is right for our patients.”