Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

On this page

• Overview
• Learning culture
• Safe systems, pathways and transitions
• Safeguarding
• Involving people to manage risks
• Safe environments
• Safe and effective staffing
• Infection prevention and control
• Medicines optimisation

Patients and staff on Coral ward told us there were not enough permanent staff on duty on the ward. Managers told us that at least 50% of the staff on duty were not dedicated Coral ward staff. This meant the ward manager had no control over the group of staff that are allocated to the ward. Managers were unable to support newly qualified staff and release staff to complete the required training. We have asked the trust to make improvement on ensuring a more regular staff group is available on all wards.

This service scored 31 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Learning culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe systems, pathways and transitions during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safeguarding during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Involving people to manage risks during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Safe environments during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We spoke with 3 patients on Coral ward all 3 said there was never enough regular staff on duty. We were told they often had staff observing them who they did not know and felt they did not want to be on the ward. This caused them to feel uneasy. Patients we spoke with said the regular ward team knew them very well and were able to identify when they were feeling anxious or distressed.

Staff we spoke with on Coral ward said they often felt unsafe on the ward. Managers told us the ward is staffed according to the agreed establishment of 7 per shift. However, the ward had been working on 16 staff for a significant length of time due the acuity of the clinical need on the ward. There were 16 staff on duty during the assessment to safely meet the needs of the patients on the ward. Managers told us that every day up to 50% of the staff on duty could be staff from other wards that have been re-deployed to support them, unless regular staff picked up additional bank shifts, or overtime. This meant the ward manager had no control over the group of staff that were allocated. On the day of the onsite assessment 6 of the 16 staff were staff that had been brought on from different wards. Managers told us they were unable to release staff to attend specific training as this would further deplete the number of staff who knew the patients and their needs well. We were told this led to morale issues and staff not being able to keep up to date with record keeping as they were too busy making sure patients and staff were safe. Managers told us it was difficult to keep newly qualified staff as they were unable to meet their development needs. We were told the service had undergone a staffing review. However, managers told us they had yet to see the results of this.

We did not look at Infection prevention and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.

We did not look at Medicines optimisation during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Safe.