STAFF in the A&E department at the Alex have told how they had just three minutes warning that a team from the Care Quality Commission were arriving for a snap inspection.
The five-strong CQC team, which monitors, inspects and regulates health services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety, arrived at 7.30pm last Tuesday and stayed for five hours poring over every aspect of the busy department.
“We were really busy at the time so everyone just kept on doing their jobs but obviously you want to make a good impression of yourself and the whole department,” matron Marc Tarrant said.
And early signs are the Alex passed the inspection with flying colours.
Nurse Liz Buckley was on a ‘twilight’ shift when word came through that the CQC were on their way.
“They came in and immediately started asking us who we were, what we were doing and youy did feel under a bit of pressure,” she said.
“We were very busy and as luck would have it we had two patients on trolleys in the corridor but the matter was under control and we were sorting it out.”
On the same day the CQC also targeted Worcestershire Acute’s A&E and the out of hours service at Evesham Hospital.
Their action was in response to the resignation of four A&E consultants from the Alex last month and the fears they voiced over conditions at the Alex unit.
The CQC report will be published shortly and they will be re-visiting the Alex again in July, this time in an offical, notified inspection.
On a visit to the department last Thursday, Karen Lumley, on one of her last engagements before the dissolution of Parliament prior to the general election, said: “Although we have to wait for the official report to come out I understand that the CQC were very impressed by this hospital, they found it safe and the nurses to be very professional and engaged in their work.
“Over the last three years the Alex has really taken a bit of a battering so this is great news and I am delighted at how it has all worked out.”
The CQC report will be published shortly and they will be re-visiting the Alex again in July, this time in an offical, notified inspection.