Hospitals rated ‘Requires Improvement’
The CQC published four reports on 14 February 2024 following inspections of our main hospital sites in August 2023, which focused on Surgery and Medicine.
The results are that the Princess Royal Hospital, Royal Sussex County Hospital, St Richard’s Hospital and Worthing Hospital are all now rated as ‘Requires Improvement’.
This represents a downgrade from ‘Outstanding’ for St Richard’s and Worthing, but an improvement from ‘Inadequate for the Royal Sussex.
Princess Royal Hospital rating remains unchanged, while Southlands Hospital and The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital were not inspected.
The overall rating for University Hospitals Sussex remains ‘Requires Improvement’.
St Richard’s and Worthing Hospitals
Chief Executive Dr George Findlay said: “For many years, our hospitals in Worthing and Chichester have retained their ‘Outstanding’ status from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). As of this week, that is no longer the case.
“That is a real sadness for me, because I know it will be a real blow to the thousands of brilliant and dedicated staff working to care for people, day in and day out.
“Those colleagues are all just as outstanding as they were last week, and the week before, but they may not feel like that. That would be wrong, and a real shame.
“As Chief Executive now, I know it’s our circumstances and challenges that have changed, not the commitment with which you have responded to them.”
Neither St Richard’s nor Worthing hospitals have been properly inspected since before the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, waiting lists are longer, patients are more unwell, and staff are hugely pressured and worn down.
Dr Findlay said: “I must be honest – despite the heroics of our staff, I couldn’t describe our hospitals as ‘Outstanding’ overall when too many patients have to wait so long for care.
“But we cannot simply blame the pandemic. The CQC inspectors found too many things which were not right – from issues with record-keeping, and training, to staffing levels and our working culture and behaviours.
“These are fundamental issues and we are working to address them, and quickly. And we continue to hear colleagues saying they’re not confident to speak up when they have concerns. We must get that right.”
Outstanding care and progress being made
Inspectors noted many positive instances of excellent care at all of the hospitals inspected – with each remaining ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ for caring.
The overall rating for Royal Sussex in Brighton also edged up to ‘Requires improvement’, as did the rating achieved by the Surgery department at the hospital.
Dr Findlay said: “I would love the rating to be higher, but I think it is a fair reflection of where we are. There are signs of progress, and that is welcome, but we must accept that there are many things that we can, and must, make better.
“We must look beyond the headlines and see the detail. How can we make services better for people, and how can we better support our staff? What is working well, where do we need fresh thinking?
“Our Surgery teams have faced a huge amount of scrutiny recently. For people working incredibly hard, doing amazingly important work, in hugely difficult conditions, that is hard for them to bear.
“I’m delighted that the CQC report also improves their specific rating – again, the increase is ‘only’ to Requires Improvement, but it is a welcome recognition that the results of their hard work, skill and dedication are starting to be seen.”
Recent improvements and investments in Surgery include funding for more staff, including consultants; new surgical capacity being sought; and approval of a new Surgical Assessment Unit.
Dr Findlay added: “We entirely accept the ongoing challenges that the CQC team highlight, but I would hate it if the efforts of colleagues to improve care were not acknowledged.
“We know that further improvements are needed, and we have plans in place to do that, so now we must support our Surgery teams to continue making progress.”
Kind and compassionate staff
Elsewhere in the reports, there are plenty of findings which should provide reassurance for patients.
For example, inspectors repeatedly reported observing:
- good care and treatment,
- kind and compassionate staff,
- teams working well together,
- patients being respected and involved with their care,
- patients being supported to lead healthier lives,
- good local leadership.
But they also found a variety of issues which need resolving, including cultural, such as promoting a better learning culture and doing more to make sure colleagues feel comfortable to speak up, and confident concerns will be responded to.
Dr Findlay concluded: “We accept those challenges, demand high standards of ourselves, and we are working hard to put them right.
“The ‘to do’ list is long, and varied, but there are no surprises. We have defined plans for addressing these issues, and executive leadership in place to prioritise them.”
The reports show us where we’ve made progress, and where more remains to be done to improve services for patients – we are committed to making these changes.
Dr George Findlay, Chief Executive
Watch a local news report about the results
Visual snapshots
Please refer to full reports for details.
