Patients 'at risk of harm', says inspectors report on York Hospital

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission who visited both York and Scarborough hospitals also highlighted 'dirty equipment and premises' in urgent and emergency care, and 'clinical waste not being managed appropriately' - and warned that there was not a culture in which staff always felt able to raise concerns.

The inspectors rated maternity services at both York and Scarborough as ‘inadequate’.

Emergency care in York was also rated inadequate, while medical care was rated ‘requires improvement’.

The inspectors stressed, however, that most hospital staff 'treated people with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and took account of their individual needs'.

The trust's overall rating was 'requires improvement' - unchanged from 2019.

Hospital bosses have welcomed the CQC’s findings - and say that, like the rest of the NHS, they have been under 'sustained pressure which has impacted our ability to consistently provide the standard of care we all want'.

They also point to the impending opening of the newly refurbished and extended £18million A&E department at York Hospital next Friday, which they say will improve emergency care.

How York Hospital's A&E Department will look when it reopens next Friday after an £18 million upgrade (Image: York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)

Summarising the findings of the inspectors' report, CQC deputy director of operations in the north Sarah Dronsfield said: “When we inspected York and Scarborough NHS Foundation Trust, we didn’t find well-led services.

"We were concerned to find leaders didn’t always understand or effectively manage all the priorities and issues the trust faced.

"Although improvements had been made in medical care since we issued a warning notice in March last year, at our visit in October we found further serious concerns around maternity services and urgent and emergency care.

“In some areas we found there wasn’t always an open culture where staff could raise concerns without fear.

"It’s important the leadership team tackle this as a priority - staff have important information to share that can keep people safe.

"Also, leaders must address poor behaviour between staff which shouldn’t be tolerated. All staff should be able to work in a friendly and supportive environment to enable them to deliver high quality care.

“This lack of poor leadership was having an impact across all of the services we visited.

"We saw people using services being put at risk of harm from a lack of good processes, such as staff not completing risk assessments or keeping people’s care plans up to date.

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"We also saw infection control processes weren’t effective in urgent and emergency care, with dirty equipment and premises, and clinical waste not being managed appropriately. "Processes must be improved so all staff can be supported to have the relevant information and environment to give people appropriate care, in a safe way.

“The trust wasn’t always providing maternity care in a way that was planned to meet the needs of local women and people using services. It was concerning people couldn’t access services when they needed to."

Ms Dronsfield said that, following the inspection, the CQC had fed backs its 'serious concerns' to the hosital trust's leadersip.

"We expect to see rapid and widespread improvements," she said.”

York and Scarborough NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Simon Morritt (Image: Supplied)

York and Scarborough Hospital's chioef exevcutive Simon Morritt said: “We welcome the CQC’s findings.

"As is the case across the NHS we have been under sustained pressure and this has impacted our ability to consistently provide the standard of care we all want, which is reflected in the concerns highlighted by the CQC.

"Nevertheless, we accept the CQC’s findings and recognise that we have much more work to do to make sure all our services are of the high standard that our patients and staff expect.”