Surgery services provided at the Royal United Hospital in Bath have retained their ‘good’ rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The main entrance of the Royal United Hospital in Bath | Photo © RUH
Inspectors found that staff and leaders worked well together to deliver safe, people-centred care.
They said that the RUH Trust’s cultural improvement programme was helping to make surgery a better place to work for staff and providing safer, more effective care to its patients.
They also found that the service had a shared vision and there was a proactive and positive culture of safety among staff.
Inspectors said hospital staff treated people with kindness and compassion, taking their individual needs into account.
The CQC’s assessment took place from March to June 2024, and included a two-day site visit to Forrester Brown, Pulteney and Philip Yeoman wards.
Other highlights of the report concluded:
- Staff were skilled with appropriate levels of experience and were approachable; openly discussing compassionate care.
- Staff ensured people with protected characteristics received individualised support and there was emphasis on treating people equally and without judgement.
- There was a culture of openness and honesty, safety events were investigated, and lessons were learned to continually identify and embed good practice.
- Staff were empowered to make a difference; inspectors observed ‘improvement boards’ where suggested solutions to problems were discussed.
Cara Charles-Barks, RUH Chief Executive, said: “This is an overwhelmingly positive report which highlights the excellent work that is taking place across the RUH’s surgery service.
“I was particularly pleased that inspectors concluded that staff should be extremely proud of the care they’re providing to our people who are accessing this service.
“We are committed to consistently providing the people we care for with the very best levels of service and this report underlines the people-centred care that is provided for patients at the RUH.
“We already have plans in place to address the areas that we need to improve on.”
Following the inspection, the domains of safe, caring, effective and well-led were rated as ‘good’, resulting in surgical services at the RUH being rated as ‘good’ overall.
The overall rating of the Combe Park site remains at ‘requires improvement’, and the overall rating for the Trust remains ‘good’.
