Mental health patient waited 100 hours for a bed

Concerns have been raised by the care watchdog at Colchester Hospital in Essex

A person experiencing a mental health crisis waited more than 100 hours for a hospital bed, a report has revealed.

The lengthy wait at Colchester Hospital was exposed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which said another patient spent nine days in the emergency department.

The watchdog said people were afforded "little privacy or dignity" at the hospital and rated its safety levels as "inadequate".

Nick Hulme, the chief executive of East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said a "significant amount of work" to improve the services at Colchester Hospital had taken place since the inspection in April.

"We will continue to act with urgency and determination to improve," he added.

The CQC rated urgent and emergency services and medical care at the hospital as requiring improvement, a rank it already held in those areas.

"When we inspected Colchester Hospital, we continued to find concerns about how people were cared for," said Hazel Roberts, a deputy director at the watchdog.

"Some of these are the same concerns we've already highlighted at previous inspections."

Concerns raised in the report included:

• The A&E department was "very crowded", with people regularly treated in the corridors

• Those people were not always checked on regularly and some complained of not being offered food

• A patient "in crisis" waited more than 100 hours for hospital leaders to find them a mental health bed

• The person who was there for nine days only received sandwiches for the duration of their stay

• Staff left hazardous substances in unlocked rooms and could not always secure wards at night

• Medical employees missed training targets for basic life support and safeguarding

• Forty reviews into safety incidents that happened in the hospital were overdue when the CQC visited

However, Ms Roberts said patients were grateful for the kindness of staff who "did their best in a busy service".

Speaking to BBC Essex, Mr Hulme said: "Some aspects of the reports are very disappointing.

"We've had some major challenges in the system, finding mental health beds and those long waits for people with mental health conditions, and clearly A&E is not the best place for them to wait.

"I'm not saying we don't have challenges; every A&E department up and down the country is facing unprecedented levels of activity.

"We need to make sure that all of our staff have been trained appropriately to give the best care they possibly can under the circumstances."

He continued: "Whilst the report is obviously disappointing, we've provided additional training to all of our staff in terms of looking after people with mental health conditions.

"The issue with corridor care is that absolutely nobody wants to be cared for in a corridor, but it is a decision that we've made as a system to release the ambulances to get to the most urgent cases in our community - we will look after patients in a corridor."

Mr Hulme added that corridor care "is the best of a bad situation where there aren't enough acute beds in Colchester Hospital".

He said: "Despite the growth of the city, we have been given no additional funds for the extra beds".

Nick Hulme is chief executive of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust was told it must submit a plan outlining what improvements it would make in response to the report.

In a statement on Wednesday, the trust said it had taken "significant steps" by strengthening recruitment, reducing corridor care and providing extra mental health training for staff.

Mr Hulme added: "Delivering safe, high-quality, and compassionate care remains our top priority.

"While the CQC's findings are a clear reminder of where we must do better, they also reflect the incredible, ongoing efforts of our staff."