Whistleblowers raise safeguarding concerns about brain injury ward at St Andrews Hospital in Northampton

A recent inspection found that a service for people with acquired brain injuries at St Andrews Hospital in Northampton ‘requires improvement’ after a number of concerns were raised about patient care on a specific ward.

The hospital, in Billing Road, was visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in October 2022 and - in a report published this week - rated the safety and leadership of the ward as ‘requires improvement.’ The effectiveness of the ward could not be rated due to ‘insufficient evidence.’

A St Andrews spokesperson said: "In our last full inspection our brain injury services was rated as good overall by the CQC. This was an inspection of one ward and the CQC has said there was insufficient evidence to rate some categories

“As highlighted by the CQC, we too are facing staffing challenges much like the rest of the health and social care sector. However, we are pleased the CQC recognised that we are offering improved pay and working conditions for our staff and any gaps in staffing are filled with bank staff to ensure safe staffing levels.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the CQC and our partners in the NHS who have recognised the progress we have made in the Charity over the last 18 months.”

A number of concerns were raised about the hospital’s Allitsen ward - a 14-bed service for adult men with brain injuries.

Inspectors found that leadership on the ward was not always consistent and visible, staff did not always follow the communication processes between the Allitsen ward and the physical healthcare team following incidents, managers had not ensured that all shifts had the correct number of qualified nurses and not all staff were compliant with mandatory training.

Prior to the inspection, whistleblowers told the CQC that low staffing levels were affecting patient care and raised safeguarding concerns about staff not knowing how to tube feed a patient and having sufficient information about a patient when handing over to an ambulance crew.

Positive points raised in the report included improved pay conditions for staff and managers sharing lessons learnt from incidents within teams to prevent future occurrence of the same incident.

Staff also reported that staffing levels had improved in the previous few months with measures in place to address recruitment and retention of staff. These improved staffing levels meant enhanced observations had been carried out safely.

Read the full CQC report here.