ONE of the most senior figures in Worcestershire’s hospitals has admitted a report into the county’s two A&E departments makes for “uncomfortable reading” but has vowed to fix the problems raised.

Acting chief executive at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Chris Tidman has addressed the concerns raised in a Care Quality Commission report following a surprise inspection at the A&E departments at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital in April.

The report, which was released on Tuesday, June 16, flagged up a number of issues at the two departments including overcrowding, staffing levels and the safety of children

Mr Tidman – who is filling in for chief executive Penny Venables, who has been on sick leave since April – said the report made for “uncomfortable reading” but that the trust had already put in a raft of changes following the commission’s visit.

Addressing concerns around the safety of children at the two hospitals, he said the trust had enforced a secure pass entry system to the hospital’s paediatric departments following the inspector’s visit.

“You could argue it’s not safe but on the other hand there are doctors and nurses around and they would challenge anyone if they had concerns,” he said.

“In 13 years we haven’t had an incident, but we’re not in the practice of waiting for things to happen.”

Inspectors also raised concerns that incidents such as falls or patients acting aggressively were not being recorded and Mr Tidman said staff had been reminded of the importance of doing so.

“This is symptomatic of an over-stretched department,” he said.

“But they do have a professional duty to record incidents when they happen.”

Similarly, the inspectors said they were concerned some equipment had not been properly checked, and Mr Tidman said he shared this concern.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “There is no excuse for not making sure life-saving equipment is working.

“But again, this is symptomatic of the overwhelmed department.”

Another concern raised in the CQC report was that 40 per cent of staff were employed through an agency and there was one consultant covering the two departments after 5pm.

But Mr Tidman said the problem was not exclusive to Worcestershire, with hospital trusts across the country struggling to recruit permanent staff.

“The risk is relative,” he said. “I’d much rather have an agency nurse who is registered that no nurse at all.”

He added having one consultant on call to support other staff was normal practice and this did not mean there was only one doctor on duty.

He also said he and his colleagues were working to address the management of medicines and had already put a number of measures in place to reduce the amount of time it took to hand patients over from ambulances to doctors – both of which were raised as concerns in the report.

“We can either go into denial or we can accept it, take on the chin and do something about it,” he said. “We are trying to use this as a catalyst to make the right changes and so far the support from the staff has been tremendous.”

To view the full CQC report visit www.cqc.org.uk.