Care Quality Commission (CQC)

Our ratings are as follows:

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent health and adult social care regulator. They monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure the fundamental standards of quality and safety are met.

Following inspections held between November 13, 2019, and January 8, 2020, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been given an overall ‘Good’ rating.

Inspectors visited two of the Trust’s hospitals – Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) and St Luke’s Hospital to assess four core services: medical care (including older people’s care), children and young people’s services, maternity and outpatients.

They looked at whether the Trust was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led and, following their findings, the Trust’s overall rating has now improved from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good.’

During the unannounced inspection, they also found a number of ‘examples of outstanding practice’, which they highlighted in their report.

They included the Trust’s use of technology such as the electronic patient record system (EPR) and Command Centre, the first of its kind in Europe, which provides real-time information that enables staff to make fast and informed decisions on managing patient flow through the hospitals.

Another example of outstanding practice was the Butterfly Pathway, introduced by the Trust’s maternity services. It supports women to continue with pregnancy with poor prognosis for survival rates for babies. Families are given specialist support throughout the pregnancy and birth. The service was recently shortlisted for a national award in the “outstanding team care” category.

In children and young people’s services, inspectors praised the ‘outstanding’ ambulatory care experience (ACE) team who provide acute care for patients in their own homes, reducing admissions and re-admissions to hospital. Clinical pathways have been developed for a number of conditions.

The Trust’s Safeguarding team was also praised as outstanding for its innovation, and inspectors commented that the Trust “provided care in a way that met the needs of local people and the communities”.

The Trust is now rated as good overall and in four of the five key questions CQC asks – are services safe, caring, responsive and well-led? The Trust is rated as Requires Improvement for whether services are clinically effective. Areas where the Trust has improved from the previous inspection include:

• St Luke’s Hospital Outpatients department is now rated as ‘Good.’
• Services for Children and Young People are now rated as ‘Good.’
• Medical care including older people’s care is now rated as ‘Good.’
• For the first time the Trust had a use of resources assessment which was rated as ‘Good.’

BRI improved in the areas of being safe and responsive since the previous inspection in 2018. Both these areas are now ‘Good.’ The hospital retained its ‘Good’ rating for being caring but remained ‘Requires Improvement’ in the areas of being effective and well-led, giving the hospital an overall rating of ‘Requires Improvement.’

St Luke’s Hospital improved its overall rating from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’ following an improvement in two of its ratings. The hospital has been deemed ‘Good’ in all its five key areas – safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

The community hospitals retained their ‘Good’ rating in all areas.

However, the report flagged some areas for improvement including in maternity services, which although rated as ‘Good’ for caring, are still rated as ‘Requires Improvement’ overall.

Mel Pickup, the Trust’s Chief Executive, said: “Staff are currently working tremendously hard in this particularly challenging time as we deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, so the arrival of the CQC report and this good news is perfect timing to lift their spirits.

“Being rated ‘Good’ for our Trust overall is a fantastic achievement and one that deserves celebration, and we will celebrate when the time is right and the Covid-19 crisis is behind us. In the meantime, I want to say a huge, heartfelt thank you to all our staff for their professionalism and dedication.

“The inspectors saw some brilliant examples of innovation, compassionate care, ongoing commitment and sheer hard work. However, we recognise that there is still room for improvement and some areas we need to address but we will continue to work together to strive for even higher achievements to become an outstanding Trust.”