Banbury Hospital’s ‘outdated care’ slammed by CQC

Houghton General Hospital serves an area of ​​170,000 people, but Healthcare Quality Commission inspectors were not impressed when they visited the hospital’s maternity ward on October 23, 2023. did not.

Inspectors found multiple problems at the unit, which is overseen by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and concluded that “improvement is required across the board”.

This is a downgrade from the maternity ward’s previous rating of ‘good’ following inspections on 25 February and 2 March 2014.

The Houghton midwife-led unit was inspected in October last year.

The latest report criticizes the hospital in Oxford Road, Banbury, for several areas with major issues including cleanliness, infection control and hygiene.

Although staff kept equipment and facilities “visibly clean”, there was some confusion about how to properly clean the birthing pool.

“Staff did not always follow trust policy regarding the cleaning of birthing pools,” the report said.

“We witnessed deficiencies in the birthing pool, but staff said it was possible to effectively clean the pool despite tipping and pool decontamination guidelines in place. I did.”

“However, there was some inconsistency regarding the correct procedure for decontaminating the birthing pool.

“Therefore, we cannot guarantee whether the birthing pool was properly cleaned.”

The hospital is located on Oxford Road, Banbury. (Image: Houghton General Hospital)

Further concerns included that medicines in the ward were being stored at the wrong temperature and that some medicines were expired.

“Medicine products were not always stored within the required temperature range,” the report added.

“Staff were monitoring the temperature in the room where most medicines were stored.

“However, the temperature in the hallway was not monitored, even though there were several medicine cabinets in the hallway.

“When the room temperature went out of range on October 11, 2023, the records stated that the room was hot” and did not detail any steps taken to resolve the issue. .

“The temperature of the refrigerator was checked daily, and although the maximum and minimum temperatures were recorded, the actual temperature was not recorded.”

“Again, there was no evidence that action was taken when temperatures were out of range on October 5, 2023. Expired suppositories were also found.”

“This meant that the service could not guarantee the safety of the medicines as they were not stored correctly.”

It was discovered that expired medicines were stored in the ward.

Elsewhere, there were also issues with outdated equipment, which was considered to pose a potential risk to patients.

“Equipment safety checks are not carried out effectively, putting women and expectant mothers at risk from using outdated equipment,” the report added.

The adult and neonatal resuscitation trolleys were sealed with tamper-evident tags. Resuscitation trolley checks were recorded electronically.

“The system logged all of our equipment, identified when it was outdated, and indicated when it needed to be checked.”

“However, the system was not identifying blood donation kits that expired in April 2023. Ambulance transport bags, which should be checked monthly, had not been checked since June 25, 2023.”

“The bag is supposed to have a tamper-evident tag, but it didn’t.” The bag also contained expired product.

“Additional expired items were found in the storage room and birthing pool in Room 6. The earliest expiration date was August 2022.”

CQC found the unit “requires improvement”. (Image: CQC)

The trust responded to the report, sharing its disappointment with the findings but vowing to make improvements.

Milica Redfern, Director of Midwifery at OUH, said: “While we are disappointed with this result, we always welcome feedback on how we can improve our service and will work with staff, women and maternity professionals to deliver any suggested improvements. I intend to cooperate with them.”

“As we found out when the inspectors visited, we have a great team in the Houghton midwifery-led force.”

Professor Meghana Pandit, CEO of OUH, said: “As a learning organization, we will continue to improve our services along the lines highlighted in the report, and I regret to say that our staff have already worked hard to improve.”

“We want to be clear that our commitment to Houghton General Hospital remains steadfast. While this new rating is a setback, we remain committed to our local hospital, the services it provides, and I am extremely proud of our amazing staff.”

“Our plans for Houghton Hospital as a modern regional general hospital providing urgent community care to the people of Banbury and the surrounding area are set out in our clinical strategy.”