Basildon hospital 'improving' says report
The standard of care is improving at Basildon Hospital, but more needs to be done, says a health watchdog report.
The hospital was criticised in 2009 when Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors found blood-spattered equipment in use.
In a new report the CQC said the hospital had improved in some areas, including the A&E department.
But it notes staff concerns over a lack of training to deal with violent situations in the A&E ward.
Improvements were noted in leadership, the numbers of new recruits and with appraisals of staff.
The CQC says the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has met two key requirements to provide action plans to deal with concerns.
But CQC says there is still some way to go before it will remove the remaining conditions on the trust's registration, which have deadlines of July and August.
The review included a site visit at Basildon Hospital on 6 and 7 May 2010 in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Frances Carey, CQC regional director, said the inspectors "found that the trust has made great strides towards turning around what were serious shortcomings, and it deserves credit for doing so".
She added: "But there is still lots for the trust to do.
"Our review found that, although there have been improvements in the A&E department, further improvements need to be made in the waiting area.
"Our inspectors had concerns about poor practice in the observation of acutely ill patients in the waiting area in A&E, and staff raised concerns about poor provision of training to deal with work-related violence and aggression."
The CQC says the Trust must ensure clinical staff are assessed and trained to implement National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance on the care of acutely ill patients in hospital by July 2010.
It must also ensure systems for supervision and appraisal of staff are in place by 1 July.
Finally it needed to make sure premises are safe from legionella infection by taking action set out by the Health and Safety Executive by 2 August 2010.