Emergency department given enforcement notice
BBCA hospital's emergency department has been told to make immediate improvements after serious concerns were raised by a watchdog.
An unannounced inspection at Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle found problems with care of mental health patients, staffing, triage processes and management of deteriorating patients over two days in February.
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC) said the emergency department was originally designed to accommodate 30,000 patients a year, but was currently seeing about 70,000.
NCIC said it had taken immediate action after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) handed it an enforcement notice and apologised to anyone who had "had a poor experience".
In the report, NCIC said inspectors revisited the infirmary on 18 March but were "not assured that required actions had been fully implemented".
NCIC said inspectors "were concerned we were not doing risk assessments for people who present with mental health problems quickly enough and that patients could be at risk".
Chief nurse at NCIC Gill Findley said the team had since reorganised risk assessments and was auditing the process to ensure it happened consistently.
The trust said a recent mental health assessment audit showed the department was consistently achieving 100% compliance with patients receiving an assessment.
It added its immediate actions had also included assigning a staff member to the emergency department waiting room to improve the oversight of patients and to help patients with deteriorating conditions.
Findley said the trust was investing £4m into urgent and emergency care services to "help us to stream less urgent cases to the most appropriate place and free up the emergency department for the critically ill patients".
The NCIC noted inspectors reported good areas of practice which included "staff delivering kind, calm and compassionate care in challenging circumstances" and positive feedback from patients about the care they received.
Findley said she wanted to offer reassurance to Cumbrian residents, adding that the trust took the action "extremely seriously" and "patients coming in can have confidence in our services".
