Severn Hospice reassures community as CQC rates sites as 'requiring improvement'
Health regulators have rated both of a hospice's county sites as 'requiring improvement' – but its chief executive says the areas criticised were "related to process not care".
The Care Quality Commission has published reports on both Severn Hospice's sites at Apley Castle in Telford and Bicton, Shrewsbury.
Recommendations contained in the reports include following current Covid-19 retesting guidance, getting staff up-to-date with training and putting systems in place to record it.
Severn Hospice chief executive Heather Tudor said staff were "shocked" at the findings, and moved to reassure the public that the reports had not found fault with the standard of care at its sites.
She added that "immediate action" had been taken to address the issues highlighted and that the community can be confident it will "continue to give expert care and support to those who need us".
She said: “We were as shocked with the findings in the report as the community will be and want to reassure everyone that our care continues to be delivered as compassionately, safely and as professionally as it always has been.
“I must emphasise that all areas for improvement were related to process and not to care.
“The hospice has a well-earned reputation for the outstanding quality of care it provides to local families and when we were first notified of the inspectors’ findings we took immediate action and have already started implementing measures to improve.
“All actions will be complete by the end of July ahead of the CQC deadline of September.
“The hospice works closely with the CQC and always wants to do the best it can, welcoming any feedback that will benefit our patients.”
Apley Castle’s report said the site operators must ensure injury risk assessments are completed and “national guidance for Covid-19 infections prevention control is consistently followed”.
Both sites’ reports said “staff did not always receive the appropriate training for their role” in line with recent safeguarding standards.
The reports, which are based on unannounced inspections carried out in April, ordered both sites to ensure patients were protected, staff were up-to-date with compulsory training and “good governance systems and processes are established and operated effectively”.
The documents also said Bicton should keep patient documentation up to date, review and record risk assessments promptly, and “consider completing and recording more frequent hand hygiene audits” while both sites should “ensure they follow current guidance in relation to retesting of patients for Covid-19”.
Ms Tudor said the hospice challenged the CQC report when it was first shared with them, as “none of the issues raised by inspectors were mentioned in ongoing liaison or previous inspections and if they had, we would have taken action then”.
She added that they felt “the inspectors’ response was disproportionate to the issues they found”.
Ms Tudor said: “While we always work towards improving everything we do, the community can be as confident today as it was yesterday that we can and will continue to give expert care and support to those who need us.”
