Maldon District: Local NHS trust 'requires improvement', CQC finds

By Emma Doyle - Local Democracy Reporting Service 6th Oct 2023

Local News by Emma Doyle - Local Democracy Reporting Service 6th Oct 2023

The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which serves the Maldon District, has been rated as 'requiring improvement' in the annual Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey.

The Adult Inpatient Survey allows patients to honestly review care they have received through spending at least one night in hospital, and in November 2022 this tracked the experiences of 63,224 people across 133 UK NHS trusts. Questions are designed to follow a person's admission to hospital, treatment and discharge.

Between January and April 2023, 476 responses to the survey were received from inpatients at the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which has six hospitals in Chelmsford, Maldon, Basildon, Southend, Grays and Braintree. The findings were published on September 12.

In a statement given to LDRS, Mid and South Essex NHS Trust said Chief Executive Matthew Hopkins said: "We are sorry that patients have not experienced the care they should expect. We are disappointed by the survey results, and absolutely committed to improving the care and experience of our patients.

"A raft of changes have been put in place since the survey was carried out including improved discharge processes, using feeding buddies to support people to eat, protected mealtimes and stopping ward moves at night.

"I am pleased it's been recognised that we have addressed previous issues around getting a good night's sleep and reducing noise on our wards."

Mid and South Essex inpatients rated the amount of time they spent on the waiting list before being admitted to hospital as "much worse than expected", with this section scoring 5.6 out of a possible 10.

Although questions related to care provided by nurses received an overall score of 8.0 out of 10, this was recognised as 'somewhat worse than expected', with the main concerns raised relating to the number of nurses on duty at any time.

Patients rated their experience of being asked to give feedback on the care they received as only 0.6 out of 10, but this was similarly classed as 'somewhat worse than expected' when compared with other trusts across the country.

When providing feedback on their experiences of leaving hospital, Mid and South Essex inpatients' responses led to an overall score of 6.5 out of 10. Being involved in decisions about their discharge from hospital, advice, care and knowing who to contact upon being discharged were all areas recorded as being worse than expected, and therefore below the national average.

In August, the NHS Trust announced St Peter's Hospital would temporarily suspend inpatient services as it was no longer possible to sustain a "safe and high-quality service" at the Maldon facility. Speaking at the time, the Leader of Maldon District Council said he was "completely dismayed" at the decision.