Improvements at 'inadequate' Kettering Hospital, CQC says

Inspectors noted "a positive change in culture among staff and leaders" at Kettering General Hospital

Improvements are being made to the running of Kettering Hospital, but it has still been rated inadequate overall, says a watchdog report.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has welcomed the hospital's "clear focus on patient safety".

Inspectors visited the trust unannounced on 14 and 15 June to check if improvements had been made after its previous inspection in October.

The hospital trust said it was addressing concerns raised.

Prof Ted Baker, CQC's chief inspector of hospitals, said: "Our inspectors found a number of improvements had been made at Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since our last inspection, and staff are to be commended for this.

"We noted a positive change in culture among staff and leaders at the trust. Staff felt that communication from the trust wide team down to ward staff had improved.

"Patients arriving by ambulance or self-presenting to the emergency department reception now received a more timely initial time to clinical assessment."

But he added that the trust had "some way to go on its improvement journey" and needed to improve delays in determining the priority of patients' treatments in the A&E department.

Review of deaths

In May this year a BBC investigation found thousands of Kettering General Hospital patients had waited a year or more for operations.

The hospital admitted more than 100 patients had been harmed by treatment delays.

It denied "fiddling" the figures but admitted inappropriate "filtering" to remove patients from waiting lists.

The CQC report says: "The trust was planning to carry out harm reviews on those patients who had died whilst on a waiting list."

The CQC report said more work was needed at the hospital, which remains in special measures, to ensure that patients received the best possible care across all wards and departments.

Fiona Wise, interim chief executive of the hospital trust, said: "We have worked hard and comprehensively to address the issues raised by the CQC and I think the report reflects that.

"For example we have reviewed and increased staffing levels in some areas, increased staff training where needed and addressed some estate issues - for example developing an improved mental health assessment room in A&E and adding to security on our children's ward."