Hospital's A&E praised by watchdog - but gets important warning about mental health patients

The Royal Bolton Hospital's emergency department has been praised by a watchdog but warned that it needs to be safer according as inspectors downgrade the A&E's safety rating.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report this morning (February 17) following an inspection of the emergency department and medical services at The Royal Bolton Hospital in November. The rating for safe in the emergency department has moved down from good to requires improvement amid concerns that people attending with mental ill health often experienced long delays in being assessed.

However, the emergency services remain rated good overall. The overall rating for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust remains as good.

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Karen Knapton, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: “When we inspected the emergency department and medical services at The Royal Bolton Hospital, we saw a good level of care across most areas, but some improvements were needed in the emergency department to ensure people are safe.

“We were impressed that emergency department staff not only knew how to identify and treat sepsis; they were also supported by an electronic reporting system to record symptoms. This is important when staff are busy when it’s easy to miss or misjudge symptoms. This supported patients with suspected sepsis to successfully receive treatment in line with national standards.

“However, people attending with mental ill health often experienced long delays in being assessed. The service had recognised this and updated its procedure to include hourly checks with people to ensure they were safely cared for and their nutrition