HOSPITAL bosses have been slammed by the national watchdog for a lack of staff and poor skills and training.The Care Quality Commission, the NHS regulator, has demanded Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust improve standards on services including tests, maternity and surgery.
Trusts now have to register with the watchdog to operate – and the CQC imposed a raft of conditions demanding improvements on admitting HoE. Most trusts do not have conditions.
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The trust – which runs Solihull Hospital, right – is already being monitored over poor waiting times in A&E.
The CQC named seven service areas as needing improvement.
They are: diagnostic and screening procedures, family planning, maternity and midwifery services, services in slimming clinics (Heartlands Hospital only), surgical procedures, termination of pregnancies and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
All were found to have ‘an inconsistent approach to identifying training needs relevant to job roles’. Some said they got no mandatory training in the last year and no specific training at all.
The rota system ‘meant a regular reduction of clinical staff to meet these needs effectively’.
It said: “Bank nurses and nurses on overtime were regularly used to fill long term vacancies and there were no arrangements for maternity cover.”
And it said staff in elderly and medical admissions wards ‘had inconsistent knowledge in recognising adult safeguarding and how to manage and raise concerns’.
Cynthia Bower, CQC’s chief executive, said of the national figures: “If they fail to act, we will take appropriate action.”
She said: “Staffing issues are a cause of concern in some hospitals and led to a number of conditions.
“Having enough staff on duty with the right training and experience has a direct impact on the quality of care people experience.
“Trust boards must ensure staff in hospitals are well trained and properly supported.”
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