The Care Quality Commission will publish their report this week and this follows on from their
unannounced inspection to look at the Emergency Department and Imaging Diagnostics back in March
and the good news and the positive things to come out of the report is that Imaging Diagnostics have
made huge progress since a previous report by the CQC back in 2019. In particular CQC really commended
the work of the leadership team and all of the staff with the improvements that they've made in
particular the way in which we put patients first the way that we manage the incredible demand on
this service and a growing demand, that the views of staff are included and valued and that there's
always good ideas about what else we could do to improve and innovate and this is really terrific
news for that team. I know they've worked so so hard over the last couple of years the report
for urgent and emergency care and specifically the department has not been quite so positive though
and colleagues will know that we're just coming out of a pandemic we've been working so hard to
manage the demand that is coming to the hospital now and this includes an urgent and emergency
care restoration plan that we started way back in January and we know that although the main focus
tends to be on the Emergency Department, hospital flow, supporting our most poorly patients through
urgent and emergency care is a whole hospital and in fact a whole system of health and care
responsibilities. I know all the staff will be really gutted, as I am, that theCQC have also issued a section 29a for urgent and emergency care which is a warning notice it's a way of saying to us
that we need to make significant improvements that are embedded and sustainable really really quickly
and we're expecting CQC to come back probably in June or July so staff have already been working
really really hard to put our patients first to make sure we're as safe as possible but
you'll see in the media that the key issues are around the time it takes patients to be
brought into the department from ambulances that are in the car park, time taken for triage
and then getting them to the right bed in the hospital should they be admitted. We need
to improve the way in which patients can access other services urgent and emergency care services
not just the department, we need to make sure that our infection control is absolutely above
board at every point. this is really difficult in a crowded department governance and making sure
that we've got the right staffing levels to meet all of the demand that we've got in our services
this I know will be a real point of pressure and concern not only for the staff in the
department across the hospital but also for the public so it's really really important that we
emphasize our services are safe, we have a whole hospital looking after the emergency department
and supporting them in the huge pressures that they're now facing. Within the hospital we're doing
everything we can to make sure that patients are treated and assessed in a really timely way with
care and compassion being right at the top there. But it's also really important that the hospital
doesn't work as an island and we're working with all other services to make sure that if
there is a safe alternative option to coming to the Emergency Department than we use it
in particular I would really like to encourage the public unless it's a real accident and emergency
that you use the NHS111 service they'll be able to help you
support you perhaps direct you to some alternative suitable services and if really necessary
they can make sure that when you do come to the Emergency Department we're able to see
you in a way that in a timely way that is best for the condition that you're presenting with .
and i think by work using all of our alternative services then we can make sure that only the
people who really need to come to a e can and that we're able to treat those patients
in a timely way with the highest clinical priority thank you for your help and support on this.