England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the services provided by Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as Good following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
The trust, which serves a population of over 500,000 people across Manchester, was rated as a provider of safe, effective, caring and well led services by the CQC. The Commission also stated that the trust required improvement to be responsive.
The Manchester Royal Infirmary, Trafford Hospital and Altrincham Hospital were all rated as Good and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services provided at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and in the community and were both rated as Outstanding.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: “When we inspected Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, we found a good standard of care throughout the trust. We found the care provided for children and young people receiving mental health services to be exemplary.
“Staff engagement is very good. There is a supportive leadership team with a clear vision and values that staff understand and work towards. There is a positive culture throughout the trust and all the staff we met on the inspection spoke positively about ensuring that patients received a consistently high service and experience.
“Clearly this trust serves its local community very well. We have identified some areas which require improvement, but I am confident that the trust will build on this particular inspection to ensure that this high standard continues.”
Inspectors found that across the trust staff displayed a clear commitment to providing patients with high quality care and treatment.
The trust had a strong safety culture with robust systems in place to protect patients from avoidable harm.
The inspection also revealed that hospital acquired harms, such as pressure ulcers and falls, were below the national averages.
There was a good standard of cleanliness throughout the trust. Staff were aware of current infection prevention and control guidelines and were supported by relevant training.
The examination also revealed that the trust had the lowest mortality rate in the North West of England and was active in reviewing and assessing mortality. There was good medical and board oversight. It was evident deaths were reviewed and learning opportunities shared and applied to improve patient outcomes and reduce incidents of avoidable death.
The CQC did find that there were a number of patients who were experiencing delayed discharge and remained in hospital longer than they needed to be often because of delayed provision of care packages in the community.
There were also nursing vacancies across a number of services. The trust was actively recruiting nursing staff to address the shortfalls, however staffing remained a challenge.
Areas for improvement included ensuring that sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff are deployed in all services, particularly urgent and emergency services, medical care, surgery services and end of life care.
This also includes midwives in all areas of the maternity services and sufficient doctors to provide timely review of patients when requested.
The trust was also told it needs to put a greater focus on patient flow through the Manchester Royal Infirmary, St Mary’s Hospital and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, particularly in maternity services, medical care, surgery services and A&E.
