Rampton Hospital rated inadequate by inspectors

Rampton Hospital can no longer admit anyone without prior written agreement from CQC following the damning report published today (January 17).

The report follows an unannounced focused inspection at the hospital in June and July to assess the quality and safety of care being provided to people.

Greg Rielly, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said: “When we visited Rampton Hospital, it was disappointing to find the trust hadn’t made the significant improvements they were told to make after the previous inspection in September 2022, so people weren’t receiving safe care and treatment.

“We found the hospital didn’t always have enough nursing and medical staff to keep people safe. Staff regularly confined people to their bedrooms and limited their access to activities and leave from their room, due to low staffing numbers. This meant people weren’t having any fresh air, which wasn’t good for their health and well-being. This was identified at our last inspection, however the trust hadn’t made the required improvements which increased the risk of people coming to harm.

“Also, staff didn’t always use restraint and seclusion appropriately. It was disappointing that levels of restrictive interventions were so high, and often used to manage risks to people, due to low staffing levels."

The inspection was to follow up on the progress staff were told to make after being issued with a warning notice following their previous inspection, in September 2022.

Following this latest inspection, significant improvements had not been made and as a result further enforcement action has been taken and conditions have been placed on the trust’s registration.

As well as the hospital not being able to admit anyone without prior written agreement from CQC the trust must also ensure there are sufficient experienced staff trained in British Sign Language (BSL).

The overall rating for the hospital, as well as how effective and well-led it is, has dropped from requires improvement to inadequate.

Mr Rielly said since the inspection the trust had informed the CQC that they had made significant improvements around staffing, confinement, and having more people trained in British Sign Language to help support deaf people.

The overall rating for Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust remains requires improvement.

Inspectors found managers had not ensured that wards had enough nurses to keep people safe and wards had high vacancy rates.

The report also states managers did not always ensure that staff received regular formal supervision and the hospital did not ensure that effective systems and processes were in place to correctly authorise medicines. Staff were also found to not always observe people fully when in seclusion.

Ifti Majid, Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare said: “The safety and wellbeing of our patients is always our priority and we welcome inspections as they are an important tool to understand how we are doing, and to highlight areas for improvement and the opportunity to make things better.”

Mr Majid said staff have worked incredibly hard to improve the services for patients over the past seven months.

Following the inspection 75 nurses and health care support workers were recruited, with a further 20 due to join.