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The next inspection: a sense of déjà vu
A few weeks ago we got an information request in from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which is the over-arching regulator of health and social care in England. After a bit of clarification, it was clear that we have got another inspection coming – and the inspectors could arrive any time from next week to the middle of January.
A lot of preparation went into their last visit, and it is only a year since they published their report. So for many of our staff this might be a sense of déjà vu – to me it certainly doesn’t feel like a long time since the CQC was last here. But this isn’t unusual; the CQC has changed how it inspects services since it visited us last, and the majority of hospitals will now have an inspection every year. We know we need to be ready.
So what will it involve? The CQC will inspect at least one ‘core service’ area (these areas include things like urgent and emergency care, maternity and gynaecology, surgery, and services for children and young people amongst others), and will also look at how ‘well-led’ we are. We will not know which of the core services areas the CQC will visit until the inspectors arrive on site, but we will be given notice for the well-led inspection, which will not just focus on the Board, but how divisions and departments are led.
This means that they could come with many inspectors inspecting the majority of areas, or, that they might focus on just a small number of things to follow up from the last visit. We just don’t know, so we won’t make any assumptions or be complacent.
Our last visit, where we received an overall rating of ‘good’ and an ‘outstanding’ rating for care, will likely be fresh in the inspectors’ minds. But since the last visit, we have made significant progress with our action plans and the areas we need to improve. So we are looking at the inspection as our chance to reaffirm to the CQC, our patients, public and stakeholders how good we are, and in many cases how excellent we are, in the care we provide to our patients.
And remember our foundation. The last CQC report marked us out as the best hospital in the east of England. It recognised the fantastic quality that we achieve on national audits and the outstanding compassion we treat our patients with.
In west Suffolk we have had some of the best early detection rates for cancer in the country for the last three years. Our stroke unit delivers some of the best outcomes in the country. Our hip and knee and joint replacement outcomes are amongst the top 10 in the country. For emergency keyhole surgery our outcomes place us amongst the top 10 hospitals in the country.
Our anaesthetic, radiology and endoscopy services are all one of the first departments in the country to be accredited against difficult Royal College standards. Our patients, time and time again, say they would recommend us.
Our estates, catering, housekeeping services, library, sterile services, clinical photography and IT departments, unlike many other hospitals, are all accredited and providing outstanding service to our hospital.
Our commitment and pride, after a difficult winter, a CQC inspection and the launch of our electronic patient record e-Care, was recognised in the most recent 2016 NHS staff survey. Based on the staff survey we were the best acute hospital in England in terms of staff recommending our hospital as a place to work, as a place to receive care, and as a place where colleagues have the freedom to improve and make things better.
You’ll have heard me say before that we all love our hospital, that we are proud of the care we deliver, and proud of where we work. We need to show this off again to the CQC, and make this another opportunity to shine.
You can view the Trust’s last CQC report and ratings on the Care Quality Commission website.
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