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In response to the Care Quality Commission Report
Written by Communications Team   

The Care Quality Commission visited St Peter’s hospital on 1st December as part of their routine schedule of planned reviews of providers of healthcare. Their report, [now published on their website] highlights many positive areas, but also notes several areas of concern.

Trust Chief Executive, Andrew Liles, comments: “What is most reassuring is that the CQC found St Peter’s to be a safe hospital with committed and caring staff, a view that was supported by the individual patients and members of staff they spoke to. The Trust was also commended (and rated compliant) for the way we monitor and assess the quality of our services, giving further reassurance on the safety and effectiveness of our care and treatment. However, at the same time, the CQC highlighted a number of areas of concern which we recognise and agree need focused attention.

Most of these were issues we were already addressing, particularly how we manage patients through our hospitals when the demand for beds is overtaking our normal capacity, as has been the case on recent occasions right across Surrey. This meant that occasionally we accommodated patients in clinical areas that are not routinely used overnight – for example our Day Surgery Unit. We recognise that this did not offer the very best levels of comfort and care but as is often the case were trying to balance the needs of many competing priorities. We have now closed the Day Surgery Unit for overnight in-patient admissions.

I would like to reassure patients that we will be redoubling our efforts to address and resolve all the issues raised by the CQC. Whilst we are confident our services are safe, anything that fails to give patients the best possible experience while they are in our care is not acceptable and I will be working with my senior management team to personally ensure the actions we take make the necessary improvements.”


Chief Nurse Suzanne Rankin explains more: “The issue we are facing in this part of Surrey is one of increasing demand, with many more older and frail patients who need longer stays in hospital. We are not alone in facing this kind of pressure; many hospital trusts in Surrey are full with very few spare beds available. We are now working with our partners across the health economy to facilitate additional bed capacity and achievement thus far has enabled us to ensure that the Day Surgery Unit is not used for overnight stays in hospital. The CQC also highlighted some lower level concerns during their visit and the Trust has improvement work to do in relation to the involvement of patients in their care and treatment and the supervision and development of staff. The CQC report also highlights some excellent examples of well documented care and practice.


Andrew Liles concludes: “Whilst I am disappointed the CQC has had to raise these concerns, I remain confident that we provide safe services to our patients, a view endorsed by the patients and families who contributed to the report and by our compliance in the way we monitor and assess the quality of our services. By far the biggest area of concern is a direct result of the continued pressure experienced by health services in this part of Surrey and indeed in other parts of the country. And whilst this can never be an excuse for care that falls short of high quality standards, this is a situation that will require a whole system approach to fixing. The good news is that we already have positive relationships with our partners – in primary (GPs), community, mental health and social care – and early evidence shows that our collaborative approach is already making positive improvements for local patients.”

Last Updated ( Friday, 17 February 2012 11:07 )