Kettering General Hospital addresses CQC concerns on patient falls
Kettering General Hospital has taken a series of immediate actions to address concerns raised in a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into patient falls published today (Wednesday, July 7, 2021).
It has developed, and is implementing, new ways of working to address issues highlighted by the CQC following a focused inspection visit on May 4 and 5, 2021.
Kettering General Hospital’s Director of Nursing and Quality, Leanne Hackshall, who is overseeing the Trust’s work in this area, said: “We welcomed the CQC’s very detailed inspection of how we try to prevent patients from falling and hurting themselves while in hospital.
“Our staff have taken the concerns to heart and we have undertaken an immense amount of focussed work with our teams to address the CQC’s findings and the early indications are that there is now a much better understanding of falls safety amongst our staff, easier to follow guidance on key daily actions, and that staff are carrying out all the appropriate checks and documenting them.
“As a result, the data is suggesting that we are starting to make real progress in this area. Since April 2021 the total number of patient falls has decreased and is now at the lowest it has been over the past two years.”
The CQC commented that the hospital’s aging estate, including narrow wards, do not provide a well-designed spacious modern environment, in which to deliver safe patient care.
The aging estate has been an issue for many years and brings many challenges such as inadequate space for patients walking frames and other medical equipment. The CQC noted where wards had been modernised risks were reduced. To address the many issues related to the Trusts aging estate, the Trust has been working with experts to look at options to rebuild the hospital clinical space.
Over the last seven weeks our staff have worked collaboratively to make rapid improvement in our systems and processes to better safeguard patients from harm. Examples of our actions are:
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Revised the documentation associated with the assessment of the use of bedrails and introduced new training to ensure staff know how to effectively assess risk.
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Revised care planning documentation to enable staff to maintain continuous records of risk and action.
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Introduced “bay tagging” where nursing staff ensure someone is available in the ward bay to cover their post if they need to leave. This means, where appropriate, there is always someone present in the bay to reduce the risk of falls. This is further supported by a discussion at our staffing meetings of patients at risk of falling to allocate staff accordingly.
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Refreshed and reproduced yellow ‘visuals’ that clearly identify the bay that is ‘tagged’ or the patient that is at risk
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We have introduced greater digitalisation of clinical information so that observations and assessments are easily accessible, and any areas of concern flagged. More written data is now being recorded on electric systems accessible through staff hand-held mobile devices, computer tablets and PCs. Some of this information is displayed on electronic ward white boards in ward areas flagging risks for particular patients.
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Introduced Listening Events so that staff can highlight any other aspects of our environment, practice, systems and processes that prevent them doing their best by our patients
Debbie Needham, Kettering General Hospital, Chief Executive said: “As a learning organisation, the work we have carried out to improve our patient safety processes at Kettering General Hospital is a reflection of the way we are working across our hospital - we have introduced weekly staff engagement events, this is protected time for us to listen to our staff, address any issues or challenges they face in order for us to deliver the best patient care and exceptional patient experience.”