Hospital must improve A&E services, says watchdog

A hospital trust must make significant improvements to its emergency department, a health watchdog has said.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) has been issued with a formal improvement notice following an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in December.

DBTH said on Friday it had accepted the findings and had been working to make improvements in day-to-day practice.

A trust spokesperson said: "Our focus is on ensuring care is delivered to a consistently high standard, so that every patient coming to our hospitals is assessed promptly, monitored appropriately, and any concerns are identified and escalated without delay."

Inspectors visited the urgent and emergency services at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, which is part of DBTH, following concerns over "risks to people" on 8 and 9 December.

The visits resulted in the CQC issuing a Section 29A Warning Notice, requiring the trust to make specific improvements within a set time frame.

The trust said it was aware the enforcement action would be "concerning" for the community and said it was taking the CQC findings "seriously".

"We recognise the work our colleagues carry out in a demanding environment," a trust spokesperson said.

"We are committed to ensuring teams have the right support in place to deliver the standard of care they want to provide.

"We know we can do better, and we will."

According to the trust, several measures had been put in place to strengthen how patients are assessed on arrival, enhance senior clinical oversight of those waiting to be seen, improve infection prevention and control, and increase senior support and visibility in the department.

Figures show the department records 200,000 emergency attendances each year across its main sites in Doncaster, Mexborough and Worksop.

The notice will remain in place until the CQC is assured that all required improvements have been fully embedded.

A CQC spokesperson said: "We inspected urgent and emergency services at the Doncaster Royal Infirmary in December.

"As a result of the inspection findings we have taken enforcement action against the trust."

The CQC said due to legal processes, it was unable to provide further detail at this time but said more information would be available as part of its inspection report when it is published.

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