Watchdog finds Hereford patients still at risk of poor care

The watchdog found staff were stressed and concerned about the new system for admissions

Hospital patients in Hereford are still at risk from poor care, a health watchdog has found.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out a surprise inspection at the city's County Hospital in October and found a number of issues.

The trust was issued with a warning notice in 2019 and retains a CQC rating of requiring improvement.

Wye Valley Trust has said it is, "addressing the issues that need to be tackled".

Issues inspectors found included:

• Risk assessments for blood clots were not completed and updated in a timely manner

• Theatre briefs were not always completed thoroughly

• Patient notes were not locked away

• Mandatory training levels for the staff did not meet trust target.

However, employees demonstrated good knowledge of safeguarding principles and the hospital's team knew how to identify adults and children at risk of significant harm.

The CQC found surgical services had improved from inadequate to requires improvement for being safe and well-led.

"On our return to The County Hospital, we found insufficient improvements had been made and people were still at risk from poor care, said Amanda Lyndon, CQC head of inspection.

"The biggest issue we found was that assessments weren't being carried out effectively and this was putting people's safety at risk."

Jane Ives, Wye Valley Trust managing director, said: "We look forward to welcoming back the inspectors in the future to capture our further improvement work."