When the CQC inspection process began, Nuffield Health’s first two inspections picked up some issues in our children’s and young people’s services that we had not identified through our own internal monitoring.
In response, we immediately undertook a strategic review of our children’s and young people’s services at all our hospitals. Based on the reviews, we took the decision to suspend or stop services at those sites where the number of patients were low or the admissions infrequent, and build on best practice at the remaining sites.
As a result, we are confident that of our hospitals that offer children’s and young people’s services treat and admit sufficient numbers of children and young people to ensure our people maintain their competence and skills. Important within these changes was our approach to build strong relationships with key partners such as NHS and clinical commissioning groups. This meant all groups were familiar with their services and had the processes in place to ensure all parties could respond should an issue arise.
The progress has not always been easy, as much of the existing best practice guidance relates to NHS services and does not necessarily translate across to the situation in the independent sector. And initially it took time to work with CQC to ensure they understood exactly how our services were configured.
“Working together with CQC in a spirit of constructive collaboration with mutual challenge has had a real impact on our care,” said Carol Kefford, Clinical Director and Chief Nurse at Nuffield Health. “I can confidently say that, without the collaborative work with CQC, we would not have been able to enhance or improve the safety and quality of care at the pace we have done.”
As a result, of the changes we have made, our children and young people’s services are on a strong path to grow and innovate the care they provide. Four of our hospitals have received a rating of outstanding for their children’s and young people’s services, and overall 94% of our hospitals have been awarded overall Good or Outstanding ratings by the independent regulators covering England, Scotland and Wales.
Last updated Wednesday 11 April 2018
First published on Wednesday 11 April 2018
