Inspectors praise Aintree University Hospital staff and highlight “outstanding” practice

Staff at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool have been praised after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) awarded their trust a rating of Good and highlighted their “outstanding” work for patients.

The CQC inspection team have confirmed a rating of Good for Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which was previously rated as Requires Improvement. The inspectors also described particular schemes which have helped patients as “outstanding”.

Steve Warburton, Chief Executive, said: “We’re delighted that the inspectors recognised the hard work of our staff to improve services for patients. Our trust’s previous rating was Requires Improvement and our staff have done just that for our patients.

“I couldn’t be more proud of all of our staff and our volunteers. This is a real achievement, particularly when we consider how busy we are, with higher levels of demand than ever. We won’t be complacent, however, and the report does also include points where we want to build on, to improve services even further for our patients.”

Neil Goodwin, Chairman, said: “The very positive result reflects two years of hard work by all staff, and vindicates the Board’s corporate leadership of improvements to the Trust’s quality, safety and delivery of services. As I’m stepping down as Chairman at the end of September, I am personally pleased that the ‘well led’ component of the CQC rating is also rated ‘Good’, which reflects the quality of leadership by the Board and clinical and managerial leaders. The CQC result is positive for patients and places Aintree in a strong position as it enters the merger with The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.”

Dianne Brown, Chief Nurse, said: “Patients are at the heart of everything we do and I am so pleased that the work our staff have done to improve services has been recognised in this report and, in particular, I am delighted that all of our services have been rated as either Good or Outstanding for being caring.”

The inspectors said that “outstanding” work for patients at the hospital included:

· Therapy staff providing sessions to help patients prepare for surgery by improving their nutritional and physical condition – this has resulted in patients being able to go home more quickly after surgery because their recovery times have improved so much.

· Entertainment sessions, including tea dances and themed fancy dress days, increasing activity levels for patients in the Department of Medicine for Older People and Stroke, which has helped with their recovery.

· Breast care patients receiving pamper sessions before they returned home.

· Work to reduce falls, which involved the support of other NHS and community organisations.

· Educational work with young people on knife crime and its consequences by the surgical teams.

The CQC’s full report will be available at www.cqc.org.uk/provider/REM.