Torbay and South Devon NHSÂ trust has yet again received another fantastic report, this time from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors on their recent visit to the trust.
The trust was rated as being ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission inspectors.
The visit, carried out between February and March this yer by the CQC, visited five of trust’s services.
These services included the hospital maternity, hospital outpatients, hospital end of life care, community end of life and community care services for children and young people.
CQC Inspectors also looked at how well led the trust was as a whole.
As a result of the significant improvements made since their previous visit, CQC inspectors rated the trust as ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for caring.
A fantastic achievement for the trust.
Room for improvement At South devon nhs trust
Of course no trust is perfect, and here in Torbay & South Devon there is room for improvement within the safety field.
The safety is more down to the fabric and environment of some the trusts buildings and facilities and ensuring all staff complete their mandatory training.
Maternity and community end of life care are also rated as in need of some improvement.
Progress is already being made on improving the maternity and community end of life care as observations  were made of outstanding and good practice.
Staff worked tirelessly since 2017
Interim Chief Executive of Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Liz Davenport commented:
We are delighted that the inspectors recognised the deliverystrengths of our integrated services in Torbay and South Devon. Staff have worked tirelessly since the CQC last visited in 2017 to improve people’s experience of our services, through focussing on what is important to each individual they see.
We have made tremendous progress and delivered real quality improvements, whilst also managing to achieve our challenging financial target of saving £40m during the last year. We have been working in an exceptionally challenging environment, and our success is wholly down to the determination of all our teams to treat people as individuals and provide them with the best possible service.
Of course, there are still areas we need to work on and we are already taking action to improve those areas where the CQC felt we needed to do more. Our aim now is achieve a rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ across all our services when the CQC next visit us.
Key take homes
From the CQC Report the strengths that were highlighted include:
- A team of exceptionally strong and capable directors, well respected by staff and stakeholders
- Quality is the main focus despite the financial pressures
- There is a clear vision which staff feel connected to
- Through strong leadership, strategy and engagement has delivered an extremely challenging financial savings program
- Staff in maternity regularly offered placements to paramedics
- Maternity staff consistently provide compassionate support to women, and thoseclose to them. Results in the CQC’s maternity survey were better than most other trusts, and women felt fully involved in all aspects of their care
- In end of life, patients’ needs were assessed, and care and treatment was delivered, in accordance with legislation, national standards and guidance. The service had access to mental health assessments 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Pain was well-controlled and healthy lifestyles were encouraged.
- in community children and young people, staff cared for patients with compassion. Emotional support was provided to patients to minimise distress, and aftercare support was provided for as long as was required. Patients and those close to them were involved with decisions affecting care and treatment.
- in outpatients, services were provided to meet the needs of the population and were integrated with the trust’s plans for integrated care. There was good access to support for patients with dementia, learning disabilities or mental health conditions. Most cancer targets were performing better than the national average, and complaints were handled well.
For a copy of the full CQC report, you can get a copy right here.
