The A&E department at Portsmouth’s Queen Alexandra Hospital has come under fire from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) this morning.
The CQC have told told Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust that it must make “immediate improvements to the emergency services” at QA Hospital.
Impact on the Isle of Wight?
The news could have an impact on Islanders. Last month OnTheWight exclusively revealed that emergency measures are being taken at Isle of Wight NHS Trust as the finances of the Trust and CCG are in a position that requires immediate attention.
They were required to bring in the services of a ‘Turnaround Director’ who is carrying out a ‘system wide’ review, covering the financial and operational side of both the Trust and CCG.
It is not yet known whether, following the review, the ‘Turnaround Director’ will recommend some services are transferred from St Mary’s to hospitals on the mainland.
Conditions on the QA
Four conditions have been place on the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust following an inspection in February, aimed at minimising the risk of patients being exposed to harm.
- CQC has told the trust that it must operate a more effective system in the emergency department at the Queen Alexandra Hospital and ensure patients are assessed, treated and seen by specialist in an appropriate and timely way to reduce the risk to patients.
- The Trust must stop using the large multi occupancy ambulance, known as the jumbulance to accommodate emergency patients unless there was a major incident which required extra support.
- The trust must ensure that there is effective leadership within the Emergency Department, with the authority to ensure decisions were made and able to take swift and appropriate action in response to problems as they occurred.
- CQC has also asked the trust to provide weekly reports regarding waiting times, breaches and identified incidents.
Emergency service should be safe, effective and responsive
Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals said:
“People living in Portsmouth are entitled to an emergency service that is safe, effective and responsive and while I can appreciate that Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has been under considerable pressure, when we inspected we found too many people waiting too long for attention in the Emergency Department.
“We found that the trust was failing to manage emergency admissions which meant that at times the local ambulance trust had a number of ambulances queuing outside the hospital. This in turn was affecting the ambulance service’s ability to respond.
“The emergency department was overcrowded, and patients were not being treated in a timely manner. Inevitably this presents a risk to their safety, which is why I have placed specific conditions upon the trust.
“I have no doubt this will focus the trust’s attention on the task. We will return at a later date to ensure that the required improvements have been made.”
The inspection followed concerns raised by NHS England, The Trust Development Authority (now NHS Improvement) and the Emergency Care Improvement Programme.
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