Hospital's A&E told to make urgent improvements
Martin Barber/BBCA hospital has been told to take urgent action to improve its emergency care following concerns about patient safety and waiting times.
Northampton General Hospital (NGH) was issued with a formal improvement notice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following a two-day inspection.
The CQC found there were significant delays in ambulance handovers and patients' privacy was being compromised by the use of corridor care.
NGH said it "sincerely apologise to any patients and families who may have been affected".
Hospital papers say the CQC inspection took place during a "particularly busy period" for NGH.
According to data from the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire Group (UHN) meeting earlier this month, there were almost 13,000 visits to NGH's A&E department throughout February, when the care watchdog's visit took place.
A total of 528 patients waited over an hour to be transferred from ambulances to the emergency department during that month.
The CQC found significant concerns with patient safety, extended stays in the emergency department and delays in ambulance handovers.
The watchdog said the privacy and dignity of patients was being put at risk due to the use of corridor care.
It issued a Section 29a notice, meaning that significant improvement was needed in the quality of health care and a timescale for action was required.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, inspectors considered serving the hospital with a more serious Section 31 notice, but held back after NGH submitted a comprehensive action plan.
The trust will now be kept under review until June to check that progress is being made.
The hospital said it had already changed its procedures, including improving its discharge processes, increasing the checks on patients being looked after in corridors, and raising staffing levels.
The chief nurse for the University Hospitals of Northamptonshire, Julie Hogg, said: "We fully acknowledge the concerns raised and sincerely apologise to any patients and families who may have been affected.
"Since the inspection, we have already taken a number of immediate steps to address the issues identified.
"We have also developed a comprehensive action plan aimed at delivering meaningful and sustainable improvements across our urgent and emergency care services and wider hospital systems."
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