Rotherham Hospital criticised by inspectors over children’s care

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Latest news in Yorkshire: October 19, 2018 04:01:13 PM

A Health watchdog has ordered Rotherham Hospital to improve after
inspectors criticised “insufficient management” of seriously ill
children.

Staff from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) made an unannounced visit
to the hospital in July and published their findings last week.

Their checks focused on urgent and emergency care, particularly of young
patients.

They also inspected how the hospital managed those on ventilation
machines and found that such people were not properly cared for.

The watchdog’s findings included “insufficient escalation and management
of [a] deteriorating child” and “a lack of oversight and governance of
the risks to child patients” in the A&E unit.

During checks on emergency care, inspectors highlighted three “serious
incidents [highlighting] a lack of clinical oversight, poor medicines
management and delayed diagnosis and treatment of children”.

They noted that there was “no paediatric-specific training for staff or
competency assessment in place for sepsis or diabetes”.

Staff “did not routinely use paediatric early warning scores (PEWS) on
all children attending the department”, they added.

And, in some cases, “patient records were not complete and contained
errors and omissions”.

Inspectors found that “daily resuscitation equipment checklist records
were not always completed by staff” on the emergency unit.

But the watchdog noted that a “paediatric task-and-finish group” had
been established to manage improvements in these areas, following their
visit.

On the wards, the CQC staff reported, “insufficient management,
oversight and governance” of risks to ventilation patients.

Ventilation was not always done in accordance with British Thoracic
Society guidelines, the inspectors said.

Patients were not always cared for in specific areas, nurse staffing
levels were not always sufficient to meet their needs and records
“contained errors and omissions” and “showed evidence of delayed
escalation and delayed or missed observations”.

The inspectorate used its powers to demand “assurance that immediate
risks to patients were being addressed”.

Read full story: rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk

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