Walsall Manor's A&E praised by inspectors in mixed report

Inspectors praised the "exceptional performance" of the emergency department at Walsall Manor Hospital in their latest report

An NHS trust rated outstanding for the care it delivers to patients has been told it needs to improve in several other areas.

Inspectors reviewed three acute services delivered by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Walsall Manor Hospital.

While praising A&E, inspectors said the trust needed to get better in areas including management of medicines.

The trust, which also runs local health centres, pledged to further improve.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted its visit in September, October and November, inspecting children and young people's services, medical services and surgical services.

Improvements had been made since previous ratings of "requires improvement" the CQC said, but added more work was needed to make sure people got safe and appropriate care.

Among the issues, inspectors raised concerns about the management of medicines.

Prof David Loughton said the trust would target the areas identified

In some cases they said they discovered some prescribed medicines were not available, some were out of date and one patient went without pain-relieving medicines for six days.

Elsewhere, services for children and young people did not always take into account each patient's needs, they added.

But their report praised the "exceptional performance" of the emergency department at Walsall Manor and said the level of care from staff remained outstanding.

"Throughout our inspection we saw staff treating patients with compassion and kindness," the CQC's Andy Brand said.

The trust's ratings for safe, effective, well-led and responsive services remained as "requires improvement" while caring was again ranked as outstanding.

The trust's group chief executive, Prof David Loughton, said it was proud inspectors found outstanding work by staff and pledged further improvements.

"Now we have received the final CQC report we will target the areas identified through our robust action plan, working with staff and the people who use our services to drive further improvements," he said.

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