WEST SUFFOLK HOSPITALS NHS TRUST REPORT PUBLISHED

24 October 2002

West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust is committed to developing systems to improve patient care, according to a report published today by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI).

In its report of the assessment (known as a clinical governance review), CHI notes that the trust is continuing to review and support systems and facilities to improve the quality of care. These include a new incident reporting system and the employment of more staff to analyse reported incidents, audit practice and support improvements across the trust. CHI found, however, that some front line staff do not understand fully how some of the trust’s systems operate. The trust needs to communicate more effectively with staff at all levels of the organisation and to clarify the roles of staff responsible for day to day management of the trust.

The report praises the trust’s development of guidelines for staff on best clinical practice. Representatives from the trust, the community and primary care review guidelines to make sure they are evidence based and that research sources are given clearly. All guidelines are published in a ‘pink book’, which is also available to GPs.

The trust has a ‘patient friend’ scheme for people undergoing cataract surgery. Volunteers attend day surgery with the patients and provide support before and after the procedure.  The trust has also established a teleconferencing system, which has enabled team working on cancer between the trust and other healthcare providers across the region.

The trust is aware that is has staff shortages amongst doctors and nurses and is taking action to improve the situation. Low numbers of doctors in some areas has meant that junior doctors have increased responsibility and work. Morale amongst nurses is low as a result of staff shortages and, CHI noted that there are often several untrained nurses and temporary nursing staff working on some wards.

Peter Homa, Chief Executive of CHI said, “It is encouraging to see that West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust is committed to improving patient care but it needs to make sure that staff at all levels of the organisation are involved and informed about developments. The trust is producing an action plan in response to areas for improvement highlighted in our report and if this plan is carried out, the quality of patient care should be even better than it is now.”

Notes:

The routine assessment (clinical governance review) took place at West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust, which provides hospital services to people living in Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury in Suffolk. The trust manages three hospitals: St Leonards, Walnuttree and West Suffolk. CHI reviewed the acute services only, which are mainly provided from West Suffolk Hospital.

The report will be available as a free download from the CHI website (www.chi.nhs.uk) on the date of publication.

Hard copies of the report are available from The Stationery Office on 0870 600 5522 at a cost of £6.00.

CHI is an independent body set up to help the NHS monitor and improve clinical care across England and Wales.

CHI undertakes clinical governance reviews in every NHS trust and local health group across England and Wales on a rolling programme. A clinical governance review is not designed to investigate individual complaints. Other mechanisms such as the individual organisation’s complaints procedure, Community Health Councils and the Health Service Ombudsman exist to deal with such cases.

CHI also investigates serious service failures in the NHS when requested by the Secretary for State for Health in England and the Welsh Assembly Government and will carefully consider other requests.

It is responsible for studies, which monitor and review the implementation of National Service Frameworks and National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance.

The Commission’s management structure comprises a board with 13 commissioners and chairman, Dame Deirdre Hine.

CHI does not cover Scotland as it has its own body, the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland. The First Minister for Northern Ireland may invite CHI to undertake work at some point in the future.

The definition of clinical governance is the system of steps and procedures adopted by the NHS to ensure that patients receive the highest possible quality of care. It covers how staff treats patients, the level of information provided to patients, their involvement in decision making, the provision of up to date and well supervised services and the prevention of errors and accidents.

Further information on CHI is available on www.chi.nhs.uk.