Southend University Hospital Foundation Trust has been forced into significant bed closures after inspectors raised concerns about staff ratios and its stroke services, HSJ has learned.
The Care Quality Commission’s final report on the trust is not due until next month, but concerns raised by inspectors in preliminary feedback in January were set out in a report from the trust’s February board meeting.
The report said the CQC had raised “concerns over the trust’s ability to maintain registered nursing staffing levels to the ratio as indicated in [the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence] guidance”.
The report added: “While all of the issues noted by the CQC are important the CCG and partners have agreed that the priority areas for immediate action are bed capacity, staff to patient ratios and maintaining safe effective stroke services.”
The report also revealed the trust’s lead commissioner, Southend Clinical Commissioning Group, called an “emergency health care system meeting” just days after inspectors visited.
Full story in The Health Services Journal 21 March 2016