Whorlton Hall operartor says care concerns were tackled immediately

THE operators of an independent hospital in Teesdale say they acted immediately to address concerns raised by care inspectors.
Whorlton Hall was rated as “requires improvement” when a team from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) looked at the wards for people with learning disabilities or autism in November last year.
It was the third time in 2016 inspectors had visited the complex, which is operated by the Danshell Group.
The hospital looks after men and women aged 18 and older living with a learning disability and complex needs, as well as those who have additional mental or physical health needs and behaviour that others find challenging.
At the time of the November inspection, there were eight patients at the hospital, which has a capacity of 19.
In CQC team leader Alma O'Rourke’s newly-published report, she states services at the hospital were well led at the time of inspection but steps were needed to ensure they were safe.
Inspectors first visited Whorlton Hall in March 2016, when they rated the hospital as “good”.
Subsequently, the complex experienced a number of staffing issues, which led to concerns for patient safety, and inspectors returned in August.
They went back again in November to find out whether improvements outlined in the previous two visits had been carried out.
Ms O’Rourke said that while progress had been made in a number of areas, there was still work to do in others.
“Although resuscitation equipment was clean and in-date, an essential stock item for anaphylaxis which we identified at our March inspection was not available,” she stated.
“There were gaps in cleaning records and domestic staff vacancies meant that some days there was not a domestic on duty. Some minutes from governance meetings were brief and there had been gaps in monthly internal services reports. This had the potential to affect the organisation’s ability to effectively monitor performance and quality.”
However, she said the hospital had been proactive in addressing “significant” staffing and management issues which had occurred between June and August last year.
“Senior managers had put safeguards in place to support new managers. Active recruitment to vacant posts was continuing and a new post of deputy manager had been created.
“Low morale among staff had been recognised and the service had worked actively to respond to their concerns.
“Staff reported things had improved and they enjoyed their jobs.”
At the time of the inspection, the hospital was staffed by seven qualified nurses and 40 support workers, with vacancies for one nurse and eight support staff.
“Bank and agency workers were used on a regular basis,” said Ms O’Rourke.
“Staff we talked to told us they tended to use the same pool of bank and agency staff which mean that agency staff were familiar with the hospital. This ensured consistency of patient care.
“There were enough staff to ensure meaningful one-to-one time with patients. We saw staff dealing with patients’ requests in a prompt and respectful manner.
“There was a friendly and warm atmosphere between staff and patients. Staff new patients’ needs well. There were multiple activities occurring during our visit including escorted leave, sports and computer work.”
Medical cover was provided by a consultant psychiatrist, with weekend and out-of-hours psychiatric cover from an on-call consultant for the North East who covered other Danshell hospitals.
The inspector noted that since April 2016, three new and interim managers had been in post and during the November inspection, the manager had only been there for four days.
However, the manager had been recruited from within the Danshell group and knew the service.
Responding to the report, a spokesperson for the hospital said: “The areas raised in November 2016 were addressed immediately, and we are confident that the CQC will be satisfied with our actions and look forward to a return visit.
“The health and well-being of the people we support continues to be our number one priority.”