The Burton Park Hospital, in Melton, Leicestershire, has been placed in special measures by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Care received by patients from any healthcare provider must meet certain standards. The CQC is the regulator that monitors and inspects all organisations providing care to ensure those standards are being met. All NHS and social care providers have to be registered with the CQC.
The CQC will carry out unannounced inspections of healthcare providers regularly and report on its findings.
CQC investigation into Burton Park Hospital, Leicestershire
The Burton Park Hospital was inspected in March 2021 and the resulting report was published in June.
The Hospital, which is run by the Priory Group, looks after patients requiring neuro-behavioural rehabilitation, including those living with brain injury, progressive neurological conditions, and stroke.
The Hospital was visited by the CQC, who found a large number of incidents had been recorded in the last six months, totalling 24.
In addition, the CQC inspectors found that managers had failed to act on allegations of abuse of patients, staff claims they were suffering from bullying, harassment and discrimination, and that measures in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 were not being followed properly.
There was also a finding that the Hospital failed to admit its mistakes and apologise over the death of a patient, failing in its duty of candour.
The CQC’s report is highly critical of the leadership of the Hospital, finding that managers had also failed to ensure they had the required number of staff to meet the needs of the patients.
From September 2020 to March 2021, there were found to be 97 days where the Hospital was short-staffed.
Head of Inspection for Mental Health and Community Services at the CQC said:
“Care at Burton Park did not meet standards people should be able to expect because it suffered from poor leadership. Staff were insufficiently supervised, and managers failed to understand the issues the service faced. This, along with a lack of respect shown by leaders towards staff, created a negative culture where policies to ensure people’s safety were not successfully implemented or monitored….”
“We are monitoring the hospital closely and will take further action to protect people if we are not assured care is being delivered safely.”
Following the outcome of the inspection, three urgent enforcement notices were issued and the Priory Group have been instructed to make improvements including:
- Following Covid-19 infection prevention and control principles and food hygiene standards
- Regularly reviewing risk assessments
- Ensuring there is enough permanent staff
- Embedding robust procedures
- Immediately acting following information regarding abuse
- Ensuring staff treat patients with dignity and respect
- Reviewing the culture to ensure high-quality patient care
- Ensuring regular staff supervision
- Keeping patient records secure and confidential
- Regular reviews of patient observations are to be undertaken
The Hospital responded by saying:
“We have been working closely with colleagues to address all the issues raised by the CQC and substantial improvements in performance, and the delivery of care, have already been made.”
The Hospital was rated inadequate by the CQC and placed in special measures. This means that a set of specific interventions designed to improve the quality of care at the Hospital within a reasonable time has been implemented.
Special measures apply to healthcare providers that have serious failures in quality of care and where there are concerns that existing management cannot make the necessary improvements without support.
The Hospital will be inspected again within six months.
Comment
The findings relating to Burton Park Hospital are alarming. Such a large number of failings and incidents in a relatively short space of time indicate intrinsic issues in the Hospital and its management.
This will ultimately lead to failing patients who are particularly vulnerable. The Hospital will now be under the close scrutiny of the CQC, which is vital in supporting them to turn the corner and make substantial improvements. The safety of patients under the care of this Hospital has to be the paramount concern now.
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Danielle Young is a Senior Associate in our highly regarded Medical Negligence team.
If you would like any advice in relation to the subjects discussed in this article, please contact Danielle or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.