Inspectors praise Rotherham’s “improving” hospital

Inspectors made follow-up visits in September and October after rating Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust as requiring improvement in 2015.

Children’s services were no longer found to be inadequate and care for inpatients at Breathing Space and Oakwood Community Centre was said to be outstanding.

Trust chief executive Louise Barnett said: “We have worked hard to ensure that our services are caring, compassionate and safe for patients.

“We welcome the report and its recognition of the improvements the Trust has made, which reflects our ongoing commitment to ensuring that we provide excellent, high-quality care for the people of Rotherham. 

“I would like to thank all of our colleagues as this progress is a testament to their hard work and dedication.”

Trust chairman Martin Havenhand added: “The report demonstrates a range of improvements which have been achieved by colleagues across the trust, in the hospital and in the community. 

“We know that we still have areas which need further improvement and will focus on these for the benefit of patients.”

The overall rating remains at requires improvement.

Prof Sir Mike Richards, CQC chief inspector of hospitals, said: “We found that, although the trust had made considerable improvements, there remained areas that required further improvement.

“Staffing levels in the children’s ward and maternity had improved since the previous inspection.

“However, there remained staffing shortages most notably in the emergency department, school nursing and medical wards.

“There were areas of notable improvement. These included safeguarding training and awareness, achieving no mixed sex breaches, improvements to the short-break service, access to sexual health records and improvements to training data.”