We’ve been praised by the CQC
Our improvements have been cited in a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The Driving Improvement report explores how eight NHS trusts, including us, have made significant changes, improving the quality of care they provide to their patients and ensuring a better CQC rating in the process.
We came out of special measures in March this year following an extensive improvement journey.
The key finding of the report was how engaging and empowering staff is vital to driving improvement in hospitals, ensuring patients are receiving a better quality of care.
The Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had a particular message of thanks and encouragement for our staff: “Our mission is to make the NHS the safest healthcare system in the world. A crucial part of this is the CQC inspection regime which has proved that when challenged are highlighted transparently, the NHS can make dramatic improvements in the quality of care it gives to patients.
“The NHS couldn’t do this without strong, visible leaders across the country who work with their excellent staff to improve care for patients.
“I want to thank the staff of Barking, Havering and Redbridge on a remarkable turnaround, and I hope others will be inspired to put these important lessons into practice at their own hospitals.”
Jeff Buggle, our acting Chief Executive, added: “We were delighted to be approached by the CQC to take part in this report so we could share the lessons we’ve learned on our improvement journey with a wider audience.
“Our turnaround is testament to the hard work of all our staff who took ownership of improvements in their own areas, ensuring we could provide better care to our patients.”
In putting together the report, the CQC spoke to a number of our staff, who were able to explain in their own words, including our Chief Executive Matthew Hopkins, Chief Nurse Kathryn Halford and other members of our clinical and management teams.
They talked about improvements including:
- Leadership being more visible and accessible, including walkabouts around our hospitals
- Better patient safety thanks to our staff being more confident to report incidents
- Engaging more with staff and encouraging them to share their own improvement journeys
- Working with the renowned Virginia Mason Institute in the US to improve our care. We’re one of just five trusts in the country chosen for this programme.