A RECENT visit of Reading's NHS organisation found that most services were generally 'good', but that further training would be required in some instances.

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust was rated as 'Good' overall following the inspection.

A team of Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors judged establishments run by the trust, which also manages West Berkshire Community Hospital, in July and August last year.

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The report of the inspection reads: 'We rated safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led as good at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

'Safe was rated as requires improvement in two of the three core services we inspected, and good in the other core service.'

Areas looked into during the visit were medical care; gynaecology and maternity services.

The inspection was West Berkshire Community Hospital's first, and overall it received a Good rating.

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Inspectors found that staff recognised and reported incidents, which were then investigated, and that risks were managed effectively.

The report reads: "Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and took account of their individual needs.

"Feedback from patients and their families was consistently positive about the way staff treated them."

Visitors noted however that areas involving care and responsiveness had dropped from outstanding in a previous inspection to good.

The report states: "At the time of the inspection, staff told us there was no process in place to manage patient’s own controlled drugs.

"Following our inspection, the provider told us they had a policy in place which informed how these medicines should be managed.

"Staff we spoke with were not aware of the policy on patients’ own controlled drugs."

It is also noted that mixed sex accommodation was not effectively managed.

Catherine Campbell, CQC’s head of hospital inspection for the South East said: "Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is continuing to provide good care to its patients and has achieved Good ratings across each of the five domains that we assess during our inspections.

"Our inspectors found a strong patient-centred culture with staff committed to keeping their patients safe and encouraging them to be independent. In return patients and relatives spoke highly of staff and how they were informed of treatment plans, and how these would affect them.

"There are some areas for further improvement. We will continue to monitor the trust closely and return to inspect again in due course."

Steve McManus, chief executive at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are pleased that the CQC has rated us ‘good’ following their very comprehensive inspection last summer.

"They visited a number of our sites – Royal Berkshire Hospital, West Berkshire Community Hospital and the Windsor Dialysis Unit -and for each site to be rated ‘good’ is welcome news.

"We're also very pleased that all the hard work done by staff in maternity at the Royal Berkshire Hospital has been recognised by the inspectors who have rated it ‘good’.

"Staff across all of our sites work incredibly hard to deliver high quality healthcare to the people we serve and it is pleasing to have this officially acknowledged by the CQC."

 

 

 

The full report can be viewed here.