An independent regulator of health and social care services has determined an NHS Trust still “requires improvement” three years after their last inspection. 

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust was given the rating by England’s chief inspector of hospitals following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission carried out between March 20 and April 25, 2018. 

The trust provides services to Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Lister Hospital, Hertford County Hospital and the New Queen Elizabeth II Hospital. 

As a result of the assessment inspectors rated the care provided by staff at the trust to be “Requires Improvement” overall. The trust was given the same rating at its last inspection in October 2015. 

The trust is also rated as Requires Improvement for whether its services were safe, effective, responsive and well-led. The trust is rated as Good for whether its services are caring.

Chief inspector of hospitals, professor Ted Baker, said: “Our visit to East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust found a number of improvements were needed. 

“We found a number of concerns where we felt action was needed and, as a result, issued a warning to the trust that it must make improvements, particularly in surgery and the urgent care centre at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital.

“Due to the work that is needed our overall rating for the trust remains unchanged since our last inspection in October 2015 at Requires Improvement. 

“While the trust clearly needs to do more to ensure people receive the care they should be able to expect, we found a kind and caring workforce and inspectors found a number of areas of outstanding practice. This included practices in the emergency department at Lister Hospital and at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre. 

“The trust has told us they have listened to our inspectors’ findings and its board knows what it must do to ensure it makes the necessary improvements. We will return in due course to check on the progress that they have made.” 

Improvements that must be met include all employment files to be complete and comply with the Fit and Proper Persons regulation as well as an effective oversight of incidents so they can be prevented in future.

Nurses at the Urgent Care Centre at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital must be trained in computerised triage systems and in assessing patients for sepsis and mental health problems. 

All medical staff must receive mandatory training in storing medicine and that adequate numbers of staff are always on duty. 

In surgery, all equipment must be safety checked, all patients must be reassessed 24 hours after admission for blood clots, there must be a reduction of “never events” and all staff must comply with the trust’s infection prevention policy. 

A “systematic and effective” approach to managing risk must be taken with regard to children and oxygen must be correctly marked on medical cards. 

The CQC found outstanding areas of practice at Lister Hospital including the use of handheld electronic recording systems allowing for constant visibility of patient welfare, the mental health teams had improved since the previous inspection and pharmacists from the chemotherapy service reported a “positive effect” after medical staff attended clinic appointments with patients.

More details can be found here https://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RWH