7 - 9 July 2015
During an inspection looking at part of the service
Samuel Johnson Community Hospital is part of Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital provides a number of services to the local population of Lichfield, working closely with neighbouring hospitals and NHS trusts.
We inspected this hospital in July 2015 as part of the comprehensive inspection programme.
Overall, we have rated this hospital as good. We saw that services were caring and compassionate. We also saw that people have good outcomes because they receive effective care and treatment that met their needs. Systems and processes were in place to ensure patients were kept safe and were able to respond to local need. The minor injuries unit required improvement in order for it be considered responsive to people’s needs and well led.
Our key findings were as follows:
- Staff were caring and compassionate towards patients and their relatives. Patients’ dignity and privacy was ensured and we saw many examples of good care right across the trust for staff at all levels.
- There was a strong open culture and staff were encouraged and supported to report incidents. There were clears systems in place to ensure lessons were learnt and services developed as a result
- The hospital delivered an effective and responsive service that met the needs of the local community.
- Staff at Samuel Johnson hospital described how the computer systems at the hospital were not all compatible with those at the trusts other sites. Provision had been made so that information was available, but this was read only.
We saw several areas of good practice:
- Dementia care was embedded within the wards. Nurses, nursing assistants and volunteers were trained as dementia champions; they encouraged others to make a positive difference to people living with dementia.
- Multi-disciplinary working was embedded on the wards. The ward based physiotherapists and occupational therapists (OT) supported the nurses in the patient rehabilitation pathway and promoted safe patient independence during their rehabilitation programme.
- We heard of the strong emphasis on a drive for quality, good communication and ongoing enhancement of staff’s skills.
- We saw good examples of multi-disciplinary team (MDT) working across the maternity service. Staff worked collaboratively as part of the multidisciplinary team to serve the interests of women in birthing at the unit and those cared for in the community setting.
However, there were also areas where the trust needs to make improvements:
Importantly the trust must:
- The trust must review arrangements for responding to patients with mental health needs in the minor injuries unit.
- The trust must review arrangements for access to x-ray imaging after 5pm weekdays and on Saturday afternoons and Sundays or MIU patients.
- The trust must support the MIU to audit its performance in order to assess the effectiveness of their own practice and to identify and manage risks.
Professor Sir Mike Richards
Chief Inspector of Hospitals