Northampton trust rewarded for improvements with CQC inspection upgrade

Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust has been upgraded from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ by the CQC.

After inspections in July and August of this year, the regulator said the trust had made improvements in line with previous recommendations.

Northampton was rated as ‘good’ overall as well as receiving the same rating in all five of the CQC’s categories, which rate whether services are safe, caring, effective, responsive and well-led.

There were still some areas where the trust needed to make changes, such as ensuring all staff had the correct mandatory training and monitoring the storage of drugs in outpatient areas.

However, CQC inspectors said they found a number of examples of outstanding practice across the trust. These included a high-quality geriatric emergency medicine service (GEMS), staff focused on continuing improvement of care, and a number of commendable programmes within the ED.

“The inspection report paints a picture that everyone working here will recognise,” said Dr Sonia Swart, chief executive of the Northampton trust. “The essence is that of a positive team spirit delivering care of a high standard in a clinically-led structure where staff are proud of what they do.

“It is heartening to read about the pride and professionalism of our employees in all roles and across all our services, whether they work at the frontline clinical end, in support services, or as managers and through to the senior management teams.

“The report echoes the hundreds of emails and letters I receive every month from patients and their loved ones, people who take the time to tell me how much it means to them when we get it right, when we prioritise their experience and safety above everything else.

“I am really pleased for everyone who has worked with determination over the past three years to get us to this point. The report confirms that this was a whole team effort and that our direction of travel is the right one. It gives us renewed confidence that if we sustain our current improvements and continue our current approach, we will be able to move from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding.’”

CQC’s chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Ted Baker, explained: “When we returned to Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust we found a number of improvements had been made.

“The trust’s leadership team was well-established and staff described the leadership team as approachable, cohesive, and inclusive. Leaders had a shared purpose and strove to deliver and motivate staff to succeed.

“We witness staff who were friendly, professional, compassionate and helpful towards patients. Those patients we spoke with told us staff were caring and without exception spoke positively about the staff in all areas inspected.”

The last CQC report was from May 2015, at which time the regulator had suggested a number of key improvements which have since been implemented.

Top image: Ian Nicholson PA Archive

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