Action to improve 'inadequate' Walsall Manor Hospital

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust was rated 'inadequate' by Care Quality Commission inspectors after they found a number of 'serious problems' that needed 'significant improvement' such as maternity services and emergency care.

Inspectors also said that whistleblowers told the CQC there was a 'heavy handed' approach from senior management which they said bordered on a bullying culture.

But since then the trust says it has 'increased the specialist input for children' and improved the provision of pain relief in the emergency department, as well as working with patients and their families to launch a new plan for end-of-life care.

This is on top of reducing the number of baby each midwife delivers from, on average 37 to 31, after key findings from January's CQC report include claims that patient safety was compromised in the hospital's maternity ward. Concerns were raised over 'multiple issues with staffing, delivery of care and treatment'.

Richard Kirby, the trust's chief executive, said: "We had identified many of the issues raised by the CQC ahead of the inspection and had been taking action to improve – but we have stepped up this action so that it is going further, faster and the results are being felt across the trust.

"Our staff, whose commitment and hard work in often challenging circumstances was acknowledged by the CQC inspectors, have been instrumental in driving this forward.

"Our work with colleagues in primary care, social care and mental health also remains a priority so we can collectively deliver the appropriate services that enable people to continue to live happily and healthily at home and help reduce demand for hospital care."

The trust is also looking at a number of other measures to improve their service.

Among these is the recruitment of 120 staff to fill vacancies across the trust in areas such as the heavily criticised emergency department.

Other plans include developing the £3 million extension of the neonatal unit and extending the delivery suite and maternity wards to cope with increased activity levels.

The trust's consistent failure to hit A&E waiting time targets was also a major issue, as the number of patients treated within the four-hour national target fell below expectations for 'almost all of the period between April 2015 and May 2015'.

The report suggested that high workloads in the emergency department and maternity had resulted in care falling below the standards patients should expect.