Top marks for Bloxwich Hospital from health watchdog
A health watchdog has awarded top marks to a hospital in Walsall. Bloxwich Hospital in Reeves Street was graded by the Care Quality Commission as part of its Dignity and Nutrition Inspection Programme.
It was found to meet all national standards and scored highly in aspects such as patients being treated with respect and being protected from abuse and staff keeping accurate records. Wendy Pugh is director of operations and nursing at Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, which runs the hospital.
She said: "We are delighted with the feedback from the report, which is testament to the hard work of our staff at Bloxwich Hospital, who are committed to delivering the highest quality care."
As part of the inspection, watchdogs observed how people were being cared for, looked at records and talked to patients.
The report said: "During our inspection visit we spoke with eight people, a visiting relative, two ward sisters, the matron, activities co-ordinator and some of the health care staff.
"We made some general observations, and looked at the medical and care records for five people.
"People we spoke to told us they had no concerns about their care and support and we saw they had been supported to understand the reasons they were in hospital."
Inspectors were told that staff respected the decisions of patients in relation to treatment options.
The report continued: "They told us they had been involved in making choices about their care, which included medications they had refused.
We saw consideration had been given in the way people were allocated a bedroom to ensure privacy and dignity was respected in shared rooms."
At the hospital, the Linden ward provides care and treatment for people with memory problems, while Cedars ward provides care and treatment for people experiencing a range of psychological difficulties.
Also this month Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital was given a glowing report by the CQC – six months after criticisms led to the trust which runs the hospital being denied foundation status.
The report praised the hospital for the way it carries out surgical checks.
Last year, inspectors judged the hospital was coming up short in two of the five categories it was assessed on.
The criticisms – which included that the hospital had inconsistent practices and that it was increasing the risk of harm to people during surgery – led directly to the foundation status rejection.
An inspection was carried out in January on four wards and the hospital's endoscopy suite.
