Safety at four in five hospital trusts in England is not good enough

We all know that staffing and overcrowding in hospitals is a major cause for concern.

Now, inspectors have warned that patients are at risk as hospitals faced unprecedented pressures. The most recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) review also highlighted delays getting tests and treatments and poor care of life-threatening conditions such as sepsis. Government ministers have said the findings should be used to root out poor practices.

Inspectors warned some of the problems were beyond the control of hospitals because of rising demands being placed on them. The review of all 136 hospital trusts in the country found 11% were rated as inadequate on safety and 70% required improvement. Among the problems highlighted were:

• Bed occupancy rates routinely above recommended levels
• Too few nurses in medical and elderly care wards, midwives in maternity units and doctors in A&Es
• Tests being delayed because of poor information-sharing and record-keeping.

One of the most important points which Hospital Chief Inspector Professor Sir Mike Richards picked up was that many trusts fail to learn when things go wrong.

Amanda Cavanagh, a medical negligence specialist at Ashtons Legal, says: “We see the unfortunate consequences of these problems on a daily basis. Insufficient staff and delayed tests inevitably lead to mistakes and breaches of duty of care. Certainly anything that can be done to ensure that improvements are put in place where systemic failures are identified would be very welcome. The driving force for many people who make medical injury claims is changing processes so that other families don’t suffer similar problems, rather than any financial compensation involved.”