Serious safety concerns over third major specialty at struggling trust

Serious patient safety concerns have been raised about a third major specialty at a struggling acute trust, with inspectors also flagging wider leadership issues.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued an immediate warning notice in relation to the stroke service at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust, following an inspection earlier this month.

A full report will be published later this year, but the immediate issues have been outlined within various documents published ahead of the trust’s board meeting on 26 May.

According to a summary within the papers, the CQC warning notice has flagged “a range of incidents… identifying poor care that requires investigation”, governance concerns around the grading of incidents, poor levels of training and competencies, and worrying delays around administering thrombolysis.

The problems were predominantly found at Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

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Source: HSJ, 25 May 2021