Great Western Hospital given improvements to work on

Each year over 400,000 people are seen and treated at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon

The Great Western Hospital has failed to meet two essential standards, according to the organisation that monitors its performance.

<link> <caption>A Care Quality Commission report</caption> <url href="http://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/reports/RN3_Great_Western_Hospitals_NHS_Foundation_Trust_RN325_Great_Western_Hospital_20120117.pdf" platform="highweb"/> </link> said improvement was needed at the Swindon hospital to protect patients from unsafe treatment during surgery.

It also said improved monitoring of patients' fluid balance was needed to better protect them from dehydration.

The hospital said it was producing an action plan to address the points.

The review was undertaken by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to check whether improvements had been made to three essential standards it was concerned about following previous inspections.

The third standard was that patients should be treated with respect and be involved in discussions about their care.

The report said it found that was being met, although some improvements were suggested.

'A snapshot'

It also said further improvements were needed in the areas of care and welfare of patients, and in meeting nutritional needs.

Chief executive of Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Nerissa Vaughan, said inspections by the CQC were taken very seriously.

"As the CQC inspections are a snapshot of the way we provide care on a particular day, it cannot represent the entirety of what we do, so we don't just rely on these inspections to tell us how we are doing," she added.

"We also use patient feedback and a vast range of quality measures to understand how we provide care and from that what we can do differently in the future.

"We are now in the process of producing an action plan addressing the points raised by the CQC and its progress will be monitored by the Trust Board to ensure we have covered all of the key issues."

The CQC has requested the NHS trust sends its action plan within 14 days of receiving the report and added that it would be checking to make sure improvements were made.

Each year more than 400,000 people are seen and treated at the Great Western Hospital.