Gorleston: Warning For Hospital
The new Chief Executive of the James Paget University Hospitals has vowed to drive forward the necessary improvements to deliver the standard of care that local patients deserve, after a warning was given to the hosptial in a recent inspection.
David Hill joined the Trust a week ago. Mr Hill said: "The challenges raised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are my top priority. We welcome the fact that the CQC are driving up standards of bedside care across the country including this hospital. The James Paget fully accepts that the necessary pace of improvement here has not been fast enough and we should have responded more quickly. The Board, under the interim chairmanship of Peter Franzen, has made it clear that a turnaround in this situation is required including significant changes at management level. Those changes or actions will be swiftly implemented."
Chief Executive David Hill - James Paget Hospital
Following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 1st March, the hospital has been issued with a Warning Notice. The hospital says that the CQC is clearly indicating to the James Paget that although improvements are being made they are not being made fast enough.
The CQC visited the hospital and found examples where documentation was not completed adequately. This meant that some patients did not get the care planning for their individual needs that they should have.
A further issue was around the completion of Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) forms. The CQC highlighted that the hospital's documentation needs improving so that it is clear how the decision not to resuscitate a patient is reached.
The hospital say that they have already taken a number of actions including: - better communication with, and education of, nursing and medical staff, standardised documentation to reduce duplication/the amount of paperwork and make it easier to plan patients' care, ongoing audits with instant feedback to highlight areas of good practice and to make improvements where necessary and reviewing DNAR forms to ensure decisions are clearly documented.
These work streams and the subsequent actions, which include completely revising and reprinting their documentation and training staff to use the documents, will take some months to deliver and embed.
Chairman, Peter Franzen said: "This is a vital time for the James Paget. We have come a long way over the past year in delivering significant improvements across the organisation, but the pace of change has not been quick enough to meet the level of care we strive to provide. I am delighted that David Hill is here to lead on this very important work."
The Board is asking staff to reach the same high standards in bedside care that they have already achieved in cleanliness, achieving low infection rates and lower than expected mortality figures, which places us in the Top 14 Trusts in the country.
Our focus has always been on getting it right for our patients, first time, every time, but inconsistency has been our Achilles heel. We are determined to make the Paget the hospital that the people of Great Yarmouth and Waveney and our staff can be proud of."