Derriford Hospital inspectors demand further improvements

CQC carried out an unannounced inspection of the trust’s emergency department and medical care services

An inspection of the largest hospital in the South West's urgent and emergency care and medical wards has found further improvements are needed.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Plymouth's Derriford Hospital in September.

Problems highlighted by inspectors included a shortage of staff and major challenges with patient flow.

The CQC said the pressures were "mainly due to limited availability of social care beds and community care".

Its head of hospital inspection, Catherine Campbell added this "has impacted on the number of medically fit people able to be discharged".

She said: "This has hindered flow throughout the hospital, causing people to experience long delays."

Inspectors said the same issues were raised in October 2021, and the trust was "struggling to meet the fundamental standards of care due to the significant and sustained pressures".

Although the overall rating for the hospital is Requires Improvement, it was rated as Outstanding on the question of how caring its services were.

In urgent and emergency services, inspectors found people could not always access timely treatment and there was not always enough staff.

There were also problems with overcrowding in the department, and staff did not always feel valued or respected by the wider organisation.

In the medical wards, inspectors found there was not always enough nursing and support staff to keep people safe, problems with patient flow and low staff morale.

Ms Campbell said: "The trust's senior leaders know what must be done to manage the issues. This includes closer working with local healthcare partners.

"In the meantime, the conditions will remain in place and we will continue to monitor the service closely.

"We will return to assess whether there has been progress with improvements we have told the trust it must make."