Ward accused of failing children rated inadequate by inspectors

The Care Quality Commission warned Kettering General Hospital in Northamptonshire over its children’s and young people’s services.

Inspectors’ concerns included staff numbers, sepsis treatment, dirt levels and not having an “open culture” where concerns can be raised without fear.

The trust’s chief executive apologised to those who felt let down.

Inspectors found that “staff did not always effectively identify and quickly act upon patients at risk of deterioration”, adding that there were sometimes “delays in medical reviews being undertaken outside of normal working hours”, highlighting one case when an apparently deteriorating patient was not seen until three hours after being escalated to the on-call team.

Charlotte Rudge, CQC’s deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said inspectors found “the trust had ineffective systems in place to assess and treat people at risk of sepsis.

“We were informed of an incident where someone who developed sepsis hadn’t had a sepsis screen for over seven hours after arrival at the hospital, which is totally unacceptable.”

Deborah Needham, chief executive of the trust, said “We accept the findings of the CQC report and the clear message it contains of the need to significantly improve the way we deliver children and young people’s services.

“I would like to sincerely apologise to any families who feel they have been let down by our services.

“Immediately after the CQC’s inspection in December we launched a comprehensive improvement programme to look at the issues raised and decide how we can resolve them.”

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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