Teddington Memorial Hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation unit has been rated as ‘good’ overall and ‘good’ for all areas assessed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as part of their re-inspection of the adult rehabilitation service in January and February 2017.

The inpatient unit at Teddington Memorial Hospital is a 29 bed rehabilitation service for local adult patients in the borough of Richmond, following an acute illness or injury.

The unannounced visit took place to follow-up concerns raised by the CQC during their initial inspection of the service in March 2016. In their report which was published in September 2016, the CQC had previously rated the hospital’s inpatient service as ‘inadequate’, a rating which has now been upgraded to ‘good’.

At the recent follow-up inspection, the CQC team found the hospital inpatient unit to be ‘good’ for all five of the core areas assessed and the hospital was judged to be safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. 

The CQC were impressed by the significant improvements that Hounslow and Richmond Community NHS Trust had made since the initial assessment, commenting that the unit ‘was now meeting the regulations that had previously been breached and was providing a good service in all areas.’

The CQC reported:

• ‘We spoke with patients and visitors and all the feedback we received was positive. All patients we spoke with were complimentary about their care and treatment and of the kindness of staff.’
• ‘Rehabilitation patients achieved good outcomes; 97% improving their functional scores by the time of discharge.’ 
• ‘The inpatient unit environment was visibly clean and was quiet and calm.’
• ‘There was resuscitation equipment on the inpatient unit which had not been readily available on the previous inspection, and staff were confident in how to use it.’

An area of outstanding practice identified by the CQC was:

• ‘The rapid response and rehabilitation team acted as a single point of access for admissions and was also involved in discharge ensuring that patients were supported to continue their rehabilitation after discharge home.’

Patricia Wright, chief executive of Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust, said:

“Since the CQC’s initial inspection last year, we have transformed the inpatient unit into a service with a clear strategy and focus on the safe and effective rehabilitation of patients following acute illness or injury, helping to restore independence and prevent unnecessary hospital readmissions.

“We are committed to providing the highest quality of care and services to patients and we are pleased that our work in addressing the areas highlighted by the CQC following the initial inspection has brought us to a level that our staff and the community can be proud of, providing a service that is a genuine asset to local people in Richmond.

“I would particularly like to congratulate our staff at the inpatient unit, who have really taken on board and learned from the CQC’s initial feedback last year, implementing a robust action plan which has led to the CQC upgrading their rating of the service from inadequate to good in six months.

“Patients attending our inpatient unit can now have the utmost confidence that they will receive the highest quality of care and rehabilitation from caring and compassionate staff.”

England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:

“It is encouraging to see improvements at this service. We spoke with patients and visitors and all the feedback we received was positive. All patients we spoke with were complimentary about their care and treatment and of the kindness of staff.”

Article supplied by Ben Lingard