The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) inspection report published today (7 June) follows the planned inspection of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust in February.
The CQC’s team of around 70 inspectors visited the Trust earlier this year speaking to staff as well as patients, carers and relatives and visiting areas right across the Trust.
The Trust was judged as ‘outstanding’ for caring, with an overall rating of ‘requires improvement’. The report praises the Trust’s staff saying “patients were consistently treated with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect”. In total 12 out of 19 services were rated overall as either ‘outstanding’ or ‘good.’ Community health services for adults, community and special dental services and patient transport services were all rated as ‘outstanding.’
The report cites a number of ‘outstanding’ examples of compassionate care being delivered by staff right across the Trust. They said “staff were observed going ‘above and beyond’ in many ways to deliver outstanding support for patients and relatives, often at difficult times.”
The report also said that there was a “clear and inspiring vision for the future” and that the change was well managed and that staff “were very positive about the new organisation”.
Mairead McAlinden, Chief Executive of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We set high standards for our services and the CQC’s rating reflects our own self-assessment as ‘requires improvement.’ We are a new organisation at the beginning of a massive change programme to deliver an exciting new model of care and tackle the long standing challenges we face as a health and care system.
“I am delighted that the care and compassion of our staff was rated as ‘outstanding’ and this is a very well deserved recognition of their commitment to providing high quality care – we are fortunate to have such dedicated staff working for this Trust. Two thirds of the services rated by CQC were found to be ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’.
“However there are other areas where we know we need to improve. We have had longstanding pressure on our urgent care service and at the time of our inspection our urgent and emergency care service was at maximum escalation. We have already addressed many of the areas identified as needing improvement.
“Other improvements are more challenging to achieve, and will need significant investment, new ways of working to address our recruitment challenges, and changes to how and where we deliver care.
“We have plans in place to deliver the changes needed to improve, and the CQC Inspection Report provides us with a valuable benchmark against which to measure the success of these changes.
“We are committed to providing excellent care and the best possible experience for local people who use our health and care services, this is what our local population and our partners rightly expect from us.
“With the support and commitment of our staff, our partners and our community, we are confident that our next inspection will reflect the improvements we are already making. We plan to be rated as ‘good’ and aspire to be ‘outstanding’.”
