Updated 6 April 2023
The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust serves the population of Worcestershire and neighbouring counties from three main sites, Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester, Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre. According to the Trust’s website, in 2021/22 they provided care to more than 250,000 different patients including 166,904 A&E attendances, 151,357 inpatient episodes, 501,478 outpatient appointments and 4,939 births.
The 500-bedded Worcestershire Royal Hospital opened in 2002. It provides specialist services for the whole of Worcestershire including stroke services and cardiac stenting. The Worcestershire Oncology Centre opened in January 2015, providing radiotherapy services for cancer patients, the first time these services have been available in the county.
Alexandra Hospital has around 300 beds and was opened in 1985. The hospital is the major centre for the county’s urology services. Following a commissioner-led review of acute services across the county which concluded in July 2017, emergency surgery, maternity, neonatology, emergency gynaecology and inpatient paediatrics were centralised and moved away from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital site.
Kidderminster Hospital houses the Kidderminster Treatment Centre which offers day case, short stay and inpatient procedures. The hospital also has a nurse-led minor injuries unit, and a range of outpatient clinics including outpatient cancer treatment and a renal dialysis unit.
The trust carries out the following regulated activities;
- Maternity and midwifery services
- Termination of pregnancies
- Family planning
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
- Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
- Surgical procedures
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Management of supply of blood and blood derived products
We carried out this short notice announced comprehensive inspection on 21, 22 and 23 November 2022. The following acute services provided by the trust were inspected:
- Urgent and emergency care at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Alexandra Hospital.
- Medical care (including older people’s care) at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Alexandra Hospital.
Urgent and emergency care and Medical care (including older people’s care) services were last inspected in 2019.
Services previously rated but not inspected at this time include:
Worcestershire Royal Hospital
- Surgery, Critical Care, Maternity, Services for children and young people, End of life care, Outpatients and Diagnostic Imaging.
Alexandra Hospital
- Surgery, Critical Care End of life care, Outpatients and Diagnostic Imaging.
Kidderminster Hospital and Treatment Centre
- Urgent and emergency care, Medical care (including older people’s care), Surgery, End of life care, Outpatients and Diagnostic Imaging.
Our rating of services stayed the same. We rated them as requires improvement because:
- We rated effective and caring as good. We rated safe, responsive and well-led as requires improvement.
- We rated all four of the services we inspected as requires improvement overall.
- Patients were not always protected from harm. Staff, particularly medical staff, did not always have up to date training in key skills including safeguarding training. Staff did not always manage medicines safely. There were handover delays for patients arriving by ambulance.
- Facilities were not always appropriate for the services being delivered in them.
- Not all staff felt respected, supported and valued.
However;
- The service generally had enough staff. Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness and respected their privacy and dignity. They gave them enough to eat and drink, took account of their individual needs and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
- Services generally provided care and treatment based on national guidance and evidence-based practice. Staff monitored the effectiveness of care and treatment. The services made sure staff were competent for their roles. Staff worked together as a team to benefit patients. Key services were available to support patient care.
How we carried out the inspection
We visited areas relevant to each of the core services inspected and reviewed 46 patient records. We spoke with 117 staff members of various professions and specialities including doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, students, pharmacists, ambulance staff and domestic staff.
We spoke with 44 patients and 4 relatives.
You can find further information about how we carry out our inspections on our website: www.cqc.org.uk/what-we-do/ how-we-do-our-job/what-we-do-inspection.