A DAMNING report by the Care Quality Commission into health care at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital has called for urgent and wide-sweeping changes to protect patients.
Inspectors discovered patients were waiting nine hours for treatment in A&E, there was a critical shortage of staff, and a culture of bullying at both hospitals.
Now, the Care Quality Commission has ranked Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust – the organisation which runs both sites – as "requiring improvement".
While end-of-life care, critical care and maternity and family services were rated "good", the inspection team concluded all other services at the two hospitals require improvements.
The report is published today just two-and-a-half weeks after chief executive Phil Morley announced he was quitting.
Inspectors reported:
• A&E does not have the facilities and staff to deal with the number of patients attending.
• Patients are waiting more than the recommended four hours to be seen in A&E, with two waiting more than nine hours.
• Blood on floors is not being cleaned up and people are forced to wait 30 minutes to be taken to the toilet.
• Junior doctors are being forced to undertake procedures they are not qualified to do because of a shortage of staff.
• Patients referred from their GP are being sent to A&E rather than the ward they require because of a shortage of beds, heaping even more pressure on the department.
• A culture of bullying within the hospitals, with staff facing increasing demands to hit targets.
• Patients are being moved between wards and hospitals, often in the middle of the night.
The trust's chief medical officer Professor Ian Philp admitted the report was "an absolutely firm and correct view of the trust at the moment".
However, he insisted improvements will be made within the next year to tackle the widespread problems.
Former Health Secretary and Hull West MP Alan Johnson said he was shocked at some of the findings of the report – particularly staffing levels.
He said: "This is not something that has ever been raised with us MPs despite regular meetings.
"We've met the former chief executive and chairman on a regular basis and this wasn't flagged up at all. The priority must now be to get a new leadership established and ensure the hospitals are properly staffed."
A team of 45 people inspected the trust in February and results of their findings have been published by the Care Quality Commission today.
As part of their report, inspectors listed 20 areas where the trust must make improvements.
These include ensuring enough qualified and experienced staff are on duty and investigating why some staff feel they are bullied or pressured to work additional hours.
The inspection was the first of its kind in East Yorkshire and provides a detailed picture of care in hospitals.
The Care Quality Commission's chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: "We know that Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust has been facing significant challenges with the increasing numbers of patients coming to hospital in emergency.
"Although staff have been working hard to meet patients' needs, this has been a struggle at times, with staff shortages, which have been felt across a range of services.
"It is of particular concern that the shortage of junior doctors was impacting on the care patients received, leading to delays in assessment and treatment.
"We heard that many patients found they were moved, sometimes more than once, within the hospital and between hospitals, often through the night.
"We know that a new A&E department is due to open in August and it is encouraging the trust has set its sights on greater involvement of staff, the public and the wider community in its organisational development. Some of these initiatives are still in their infancy and the challenge now is to ensure all the trust's staff are properly engaged."
Chief executive quit Today's report comes just over two weeks after chief executive Phil Morley quit. There has been much speculation about his sudden departure and many believe it was related to publication of the report. However, Prof Philp refused to give further information about the circumstances surrounding Mr Morley's exit. He said: "Mr Morley left for personal reasons. We're now concentrating on taking on board what was said in the report and moving forward. "There were mentions of staff not feeling engaged with senior management. I've spent a lot of my time with frontline staff, as does the chief nurse and managers that head up health groups as well. "We need to take this criticism on the chin and say we must do more."• Care Quality Commission report: Where the trust must improve
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