Whiston Hospital

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• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

We found the service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which staff delivered care, treatment. They supported and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. They had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. Staff understood their role and responsibilities. Data and notifications were consistently submitted to external organisations as required.

Whilst there were governance, management and accountability arrangements in place, there was a regulatory breach relating to the key question for well-led, as information was not always used effectively to monitor and improve the quality of care.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Shared direction and culture during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Staff told us that leaders were visible and approachable. Staff, including bank and agency staff told us they felt valued by leaders and the organisation.

Staff and leaders said that they met regularly with their manager and had 1:1s with clear objectives. They said that they felt supported by the executive team.

Leaders were able to articulate the department’s main risks. The Trust 2023 staff survey result for compassionate leadership was in line with the national average.

The Trust had succession planning and leadership development opportunities and schemes for all levels in the ED.

Staff survey results were analysed and detailed action plans were in place to make improvements on any areas of concern.

We did not look at Freedom to speak up during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

Leaders were clear about who had oversight of performance and were involved in this.

Leaders told us that in the last 4 years the department had been expanded multiple times to increase capacity such as creating a new ambulance assessment area with additional 25 trolley spaces. Medical bed capacity had been increased by 45 beds on top of 22 existing escalation beds.

Leaders however could not tell us how the department was performing with inter-specialty referrals and reviews as they did not monitor these.

The trust had an effective digital system for logging risks that linked directly to the incident reporting system. Leaders tracked the risks in the ED effectively using this and had oversight of the risks and their mitigations.

The integration of multidisciplinary team working within the department meant that patients received specialist care quickly for some specialties, however there were delays in specialties such as medicine and surgery.

The Hospital had policies and procedures in place for escalation and care of patients in non-clinical areas, to mitigate the main risks from crowding.

The hospital mostly had processes in place to monitor performance and quality against national targets and standards. However, the hospital did not monitor the timeliness of inter-specialty referrals.

We did not look at Partnerships and communities during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.

We did not look at Learning, improvement and innovation during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.