Fears Over Children’s Hospitals
Nearly one in five children’s hospitals are not providing around-the-clock, emergency life-support cover, a watchdog says. The Healthcare Commission also found a number of other “serious concerns” in a review of 157 NHS trusts.
{mosimage}The watchdog said one in 10 surgeons was not operating enough to maintain their skills and 75% of trusts were classed as fair or weak overall. The government said improvements had been made, but more was still needed. The Commission has been working with the bottom 10% of trusts, which include the eight trusts ranked as weak – Brighton and Sussex, County Durham and Darlington, Kettering General, Mid Staffordshire General, North Devon Healthcare, Salisbury Healthcare, Scarborough and North East Yorkshire and Stockport.
The study into children’s hospitals and those with specific children’s services found that just 16% of paediatric inpatient units did not carry out enough work to reach the minimum recommended professional level.
Inspectors also found only 58% of services had adequate child protection standards in place, while only a quarter of nurses and less than 10% of surgeons and anaesthetists had the right training in how to communicate with children.
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