ULHT Director of Nursing Michelle Rhodes said:
“We know that this report will be upsetting for our patients, public and staff to read and we would like to apologise to any patients who have not received the high quality care we would expect. This report by the CQC makes very difficult reading for all of us and we fully accept their findings. This is a position none of us want to be in.
We have been concerned for some time about the challenges faced at Pilgrim A&E, and had escalated it earlier this year.
Providing safe, compassionate, patient-centred care is always our priority, but we know that A&Es across the country are struggling with large numbers of patients and shortages of staff, and these things acutely affect Pilgrim hospital.
We have already addressed a number of the issues highlighted in the report and have invested a further £800k in additional staffing and support to the department to ensure patients receive safe care.
All of the individual cases included in the report have been fully investigated so that we can assure ourselves that no patients were harmed on the evening of the inspection.
As a result of the work we have been doing over the last few weeks, we are confident that the service is more resilient, and with the continuing support from our partners we will build on this progress to help secure it further over the winter period.”
Download the full report on the CQC website here – https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/RWDLA