Following an unannounced inspection at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, CQC inspectors have “found some improvements”, however the trust remains as ‘requires improvement’.
CQC inspectors in September, October and November, as part of CQC’s continual checks, visited the trust’s children and young person’s services, medical and surgical services.
Following the inspection, the trust’s overall rating remains as requires improvement. The ratings for safe, effective, well-led and responsive remained as requires improvement, and caring remained as outstanding.
Andy Brand, CQC’s deputy director of operations for the Midlands network, commented: “When we returned to Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, whilst we did see some areas of improvement and good practice, more work needs to be done to ensure people receive safe and appropriate care.
“Leaders were enthusiastic about the direction of travel, not only for the trust but for the system as a whole and had taken steps to address any shortfalls. This included system-wide training to ensure staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities.
“We were pleased to see improvement regarding teams working well together and feeling more confident to report and learn from patient safety incidents which had been a previous area of concern. We were impressed with the exceptional performance in the emergency department at Walsall Manor Hospital where the trust had some of the quickest times in the country for seeing emergency patients as well the lowest ambulance handover delays in the region.
“The trust must be also commended for being rated outstanding for being caring a second time. Throughout our inspection we saw staff treating patients with compassion and kindness and delivered care which respected people’s individual needs.
“We will continue to monitor the trust and expect to see that the trust has addressed the areas where further improvement is still needed, by the next time we inspect.”
To view the CQC report, please click here.
