CLCH awarded 'Good' by CQC

We are delighted to confirm that CLCH has been rated as 'Good' by the Care Quality Commission following an extensive inspection visit in April 2015.

The inspection was part of the routine visits all NHS Trusts have to assess the quality of the services they provide. A team of CQC specialists examined a range of services including community dental, end of life, adult, urgent care, community inpatient and children, young people and families services across several locations in Barnet, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster.

The trust was awarded Good in 26 out of 30 separate ratings and across five inspection domains (safe, caring, effective, responsive and well-led). CQC ratings use a four point scale of Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good, and Outstanding.

James Reilly, CLCH's Chief Executive said: "This is a great achievement which all our teams will rightly be proud of. The care staff give to our patients day in day out is high quality and worthy of this very positive result."

Edward Baker, CQC's Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "Inspectors witnessed how patients and their families and loved ones were treated with dignity, respect and compassion.

"Access to community health services was observed as prompt and responsive to patient needs, and the trust showed commitment to improving health outcomes for local people.

"Although we have found several examples of good care across the trust core services, areas for improvement were also identified."

Areas for improvement for the trust include end of life inpatient care units adhering to trust policies and the use of agency staff to cover vacancies.

Pam Chesters, Chairman at CLCH said: "Whilst being rated 'Good', puts us in amongst the top Trusts across the country, we are committed to addressing the areas where the inspectors have indicated we are not consistently achieving that standard. I am pleased that our staff have responded to the report so positively, looking to learn from its insights and identify how we can further improve our services."

The full report is available to read on the CQC website.