Published on: 23 August 2018
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust has become the first Trust in the North East to undergo a new combined inspection by independent healthcare regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and NHS Improvement (NHSI), the national body responsible for overseeing NHS Foundation Trusts.
Receiving a combined overall rating of ‘good’, patients using hospital services in Sunderland can be assured of the high quality of care on offer and the effective use of NHS resources by City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.
Following a visit to Sunderland Royal Hospital in spring 2018, teams from NHSI and the CQC spoke to the senior leadership team, as well as staff and patients within urgent and emergency care, medical care, older people’s care, surgery and maternity services*.
Some of the most significant quality improvements were seen in medical and older people’s care and in the overall responsive of services. CQC inspectors praised several areas of outstanding practice including:
- An innovative new technique in the Emergency Department (ED) to replace shoulder dislocation which has improved recovery times for patients
- Robust processes within children’s ED for safeguarding cases and support for staff
- The ‘delirium and dementia outreach team’ and dementia-friendly unit, the Alexandra Centre, at Sunderland Royal Hospital providing dedicated specialist dementia care
- A hospital ‘elder-life’ programme which provides cognitively stimulating activities at the bedside for older people
- Robust safety processes in place to assess all frail older patients admitted to hospital to ensure timely and appropriate decision making
- Consultant-led assessment unit to ensure rapid diagnosis of chest pain
- Introduction of home haemodialysis for renal medicine patients in response to growth in the number of patients needing specialist kidney care
- Development of a discharge hub, working with the local authority and introduction of emergency healthcare plans for the older population.
- The new Louis bereavement suite opened last year to support parents suffering the pain of having a stillborn child
- The day of surgery admissions unit which has speeded up care for patients using urology and ear, nose and throat (ENT) services.
CQC inspectors witnessed ‘staff going the extra mile on several occasions’ and described ‘commendable examples of compassionate care’ as well as a ‘strong, visible, person-centred culture’ across the Trust.
Despite many positive examples of good quality care and outstanding practice, the CQC also advised where further quality improvements are needed as the Trust aspires to become rated ‘outstanding’ in future.
Although there has been overall improvement in vacancy rates, more work is needed to improve nurse staffing levels on hospital wards and this is something the Trust is already actively addressing in preparation for the busy winter months ahead. Leaders at the Trust are also taking steps to remind all staff about the importance of following infection control procedures at all times.
As well as a ‘good’ rating from the CQC for the quality of care, the Trust also received a ‘good’ rating from NHSI for its positive use of resources to provide high quality and sustainable care for patients. Several areas of ‘outstanding’ practice were again noted, as well as some areas for further improvement.
Commenting on the results, Chief Executive of City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, Ken Bremner, said: “The outcome of our first combined inspection is positive news for staff and patients. It provides strong reassurance that despite a very challenging time for the NHS and changes within our local healthcare system as we transform clinical services, we continue to provide some of the best quality of care anywhere in the NHS.
“To sustain such a positive overall performance is testament to the hard work and efforts of our teams who are working under intense pressure day-in, day-out, to provide the highest quality of care and experience for our patients.As always, there are also some clear learning points and immediate actions that we will take away from the report and rectify with immediate effect.
“As we look to the future and our proposed merger with South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, we share the same strategic ambition to become rated as an ‘outstanding’ healthcare provider in the years ahead and will continue to strive for excellence in everything we do for our patients.”
John Anderson, Chairman of City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust said: “To achieve a combined ‘good’ rating for quality of care and our use of resources is excellent news for the people of Sunderland and simply would not have been possible without the commitment and dedication of our staff.
“Despite a very challenging financial climate and pressures within the NHS, we are very encouraged to receive such a positive rating from our regulators on our use of resources who have recognised the tremendous efforts being made to ensure we can continue to provide high quality, efficient and sustainable care for our patients.
“We fully expect demand to grow even further as our population gets older and we manage the inevitable pressures and costs of advances in medicine, technology and drugs. The Path to Excellence programme of clinical transformation is critical to securing long-term stability as we continue to plan together with South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust to build a sustainable healthcare system that is fit for the future.”
Media contact: Liz Davies liz.davies@chsft.nhs.uk / 07771943066
Notes to editors
During this inspection the CQC did not visit Sunderland Eye Infirmary.The full CQC and NHSI reports will be available at the following web link on Thursday 23 August - https://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RLN.
