Children's hospital ordered to improve

The CQC's deputy director of operations in the Midlands said she was disappointed to see an overall decline in the quality of care

Birmingham Children's Hospital has been told to make improvements to urgent and emergency services following an inspection.

The unannounced review was carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January.

The rating for urgent and emergency care has been downgraded from good to requires improvement, although overall the hospital remains good.

The chief executive of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Matthew Boazman, said he was "disappointed" by the finding.

Charlotte Rudge, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: "It was disappointing to see an overall decline in the quality of care being provided to children and young people.

"Leaders need to ensure staff are trained in how to deal with young people attending the unit who are experiencing a mental health crisis."

She said staff told inspectors that they were not clear on what to do in such a situation.

The report also noted that understaffing had impacted the staff's ability to administer medicines, triage in a timely manner and complete observations.

On some shifts there were lots of newly qualified nurses meaning there was more pressure on qualified nurses to take on additional tasks.

However, it was noted that the service had secured funding to increase the triage nurse capacity and plans were in place to recruit.

Significant investment

Writing about more positive observations, Ms Rudge said: "Children and young people were usually triaged within 15 minutes of arrival at the department.

"A system of prioritisation was in place which ensured the most urgent cases were escalated as quickly as possible.

“In addition, leaders were visible and approachable, and staff felt respected, supported, and valued."

Responding to feedback, Mr Boazman said: "Colleagues in our emergency department work hard to deliver the best care they can.

"We are pleased that the CQC recognised that staff feel valued and rated the service good for being caring."

He added that the trust had "invested significantly" to set up additional mental health training for staff.

The CQC report said that it would continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections.

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