CQC rates local Trust as ‘good’

Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as ‘good’ by Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors who recently visited the trust.

During February and March this year, the CQC visited five of the trust’s services: hospital maternity, hospital outpatients, hospital end of life care, community end of life and community care services for children and young people. Inspectors also looked at how well-led the trust is. As a result of significant improvements made since their last visit, inspectors rated the trust as ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for caring.

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Hospital and community health services for children and young people are rated as good across all five domains – safe, effective, well-led, caring and responsive. Overall for the trust, the ‘safe’ domain remains as ‘requires improvement’. This is down to issues such as the fabric and environment of some of the trust’s buildings and facilities, making sure all staff complete their mandatory training, ensuring regular equipment checks are completed and keeping documentation up-to-date. Maternity and community end of life care are also rated as ‘requires improvement’ – although with some observations of outstanding and good practice.

Interim Chief Executive of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Liz Davenport, commented: “We are delighted that the inspectors recognised the delivery strengths of our integrated services in Torbay and South Devon. Staff have worked tirelessly since the CQC last visited in 2017 to improve people’s experience of our services, through focussing on what is important to each individual they see.

“We have made tremendous progress and delivered real quality improvements, whilst also managing to achieve our challenging financial target of saving £40m during the last year. We have been working in an exceptionally challenging environment, and our success is wholly down to the determination of all our teams to treat people as individuals and provide them with the best possible service.

“Of course, there are still areas we need to work on and we are already taking action to improve those areas where the CQC felt we needed to do more. Our aim now is achieve a rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ across all our services when the CQC next visit us.”

Some of the strengths highlighted in the report include:

A team of exceptionally strong and capable directors who are well-respected by staff and stakeholders despite significant financial pressures, the board retains a strong focus on quality.
A clear vision, which staff feel connected to.
Delivery of an extremely challenging financial savings plan through strong leadership, strategy, and engagement.
Staff in maternity regularly offer placements to paramedics maternity staff consistently provide compassionate support to women, and those close to them. Results in the CQC’s maternity survey were better than most other trusts, and women felt fully involved in all aspects of their care.
In end of life, patients’ needs were assessed, and care and treatment was delivered, in accordance with legislation, national standards and guidance. The service had access to mental health assessments 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Pain was well-controlled and healthy lifestyles were encouraged.
In community children and young people, staff cared for patients with compassion. Emotional support was provided to patients to minimise distress, and aftercare support was provided for as long as was required. Patients and those close to them were involved with decisions affecting care and treatment.
In outpatients, services were provided to meet the needs of the population and were integrated with the trust’s plans for integrated care. There was good access to support for patients with dementia, learning disabilities or mental health conditions. Most cancer targets were performing better than the national average, and complaints were handled well.

The full report is available online at: http://www.cxqc.org.uk/providerRA9