Pontefract Hospital understaffing 'addressed'

In a report published last week, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the unit, where stroke victims are rehabilitated, as 'inadequate' following its visit in July and August this year.

Inspectors said they witnessed patient call bells ringing for five minutes at a time before staff could attend to them.

But at a Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Board meeting on Thursday, director of nursing David Melia said the issue had now been addressed.

Jules Preston, chairman of the NHS trust, said he was confident the organisation would improve further in the future.

He said: "I'm pleased to be able to give assurances that we have changes on Pontefract Hospital's stroke unit. We've now made sure that staffing levels have been increased and the staff that are there are now being given better support.

"The senior nurse presence we now have based at Pontefract Hospital has also helped.

"I'm now much more confident that if the CQC were to come back and review the service, they wouldn't have the same concerns that they did back in the summer."

The trust was given a requires improvement grade for its entire operation by the regulator, but was praised for having made significant progress across many areas in recent years.

The issue with staffing at Pontefract Hospital was the only inadequate mark against the trust's name in the whole report.

Chairman Jules Preston praised the trust's staff for the progress made.

He said: "It is disappointing that we are still in 'requires improvement'.

"The report was clear that we were at the top end of 'requires improvement'.

"The CQC expect us to be good the next time around. There was significant improvement across the trust."

Local Democracy Reporting Service