Rotherham Hospital criticised in watchdog report

ROTHERHAM Hospital has been rated as “requiring improvement” after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

ROTHERHAM Hospital has been rated as “requiring improvement” after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission, prompting its chief executive to admit: "We still have much to do."

Inspectors found Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust to be “caring” — but lacking in providing safe, effective, responsive and well-led services.

Planned staffing levels were not being achieved on a number of wards, the CQC found, which impacted heavily on staff morale, sickness and retention.

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Prof Sir Mike Richards, said: “It is clear that the trust has a number of issues it has to address.

“Across the trust we saw many examples that showed that staff were caring, compassionate and treated patients with dignity and respect, even when they were working under significant pressure.

“Planned staffing levels were not being achieved on many wards and this was affecting staff morale and staff retention rates.”

The CQC found safety within community services for children and families to be inadequate.

Prof Richards said: “The trust was making progress towards increasing the numbers of health visitors and school nurses, but staff felt their caseloads were unmanageable.

“Inspectors raised concern that information was not always effectively shared between teams regarding children who may be at risk.”

Some wards did not meet national guidance requiring segregated facilities for men and women. The CQC said the trust has taken action to address this issue.

And there was praise for the “exemplary” BreathingSpace centre for respiratory care and the hospital’s pioneering photopheresis treatment.

Ms Barnett (pictured) welcomed the report and said the CQC rating reflected the challenges faced.

She added: “Although we are making good progress, we still have much to do.

“This report rightly recognises the continuing hard work and dedication of colleagues across our trust by rating them good for providing caring services.

“The report reflects the high levels of satisfaction expressed by many of our patients.

“It also praises our innovative services, including our nurse-led BreathingSpace unit and our photopheresis service, which helps patients with conditions where their white blood cells are thought to be the cause of their disease.”

Trust Chairman Martin Havenhand said: “We are not complacent and we know there are things we need to do better.

“The report reflects this, and I can confirm that a number of areas highlighted in the report are ones that we had already begun to tackle.”