KING’S LYNN: Care standards rap for hospital
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Health watchdogs have called for improvements at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital after again finding that it was not meeting care standards.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) made an unannounced one-day visit to the hospital’s medical assessment unit and a ward to see how people were being cared for and to talk to staff and patients.
And their report, now published, reveals concerns about patients being treated with respect and involving them in discussions about their care and treatment, ensuring food and drink meets individual dietary needs and making sure personal information, including medical records, is accurate, safe and confidential.
Just over a year ago, a similar CQC report identified failings at meal times that meant patients needing help to eat were not always getting it – and this time inspectors also found people were not always supported to eat and drink enough to meet their needs.
They also said that while nursing care records were kept secure, they were sometimes incomplete or not fully up to date.
A QEH spokesman said: “The hospital trust has agreed with the CQC a list of actions to take to ensure all standards are fully met and these will be monitored by the inspectors.”
Gwyneth Wilson, the hospital’s director of patient experience, said: “The report gives patients reassurance that they are safe while in our care.
“They identified lots of good practice in relation to protected meal times and treating patients with privacy and respect.
“We accept, however, that improvements need to be made in our record-keeping and that discussions with patients about their individual care need to be properly recorded.
“Since the inspection we have taken steps to ensure these extra safeguards are now in place.”
The CQC inspectors said that on the acute medical ward the staff told them it was often very difficult for them to ensure that people received their meal in a timely way.
They also saw a person who could not use their arms left with a drink without a straw, and another needing help to eat left to continue on their own and finding it very difficult to do so.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Monday 20 May 2013
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