Formal Warning For Plymouth Hospital

10 July 2013, 06:01 | Updated: 13 August 2013, 15:09

The care watchdog has given a Devon hospital a formal warning after it failed to protect the safety of patients, and has been told to make urgent improvements for people undergoing surgery at Plymouth's Derriford hospital.

 

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued a formal warning to the trust following an unannounced inspection at which it failed to meet five of the nine national standards which were reviewed.

 

A team of inspectors spent two weeks at the Plymouth hospital in April following up concerns, including eight 'Never Events' - a serious, largely preventable patient safety incident that should not occur - that have been reported in the last year. 

 

Inspectors found that while staff were helpful and considerate some staff were found to be cutting corners to save time and staff shortages meant that specialist theatre staff were often not available.

 

This coupled with unrealistic timetables meant that staff were under too much pressure creating a risk of mistakes.

 

Seven of the incidents had taken place in theatre and included four of wrong site surgery.

 

Two years ago the CQC had taken action against the trust over similar safety concerns in the hospital's operating theatres.

 

At the time, the hospital responded by ensuring that safety check lists, designed to reduce the risk of deaths and complications, were used properly by all surgical teams.