10 June 2021
Frimley Health welcomed the publication of a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) today (Thursday 10 June) following an unannounced inspection into infection control practices at its hospitals.
The inspection, carried out in April 2021 following a long period of intense pressure for staff caring for Covid-19 patients, found that staff felt respected and valued, could raise concerns without fear and were committed to continually improving services. They found that teams had the skills and abilities to manage infection control effectively, governance was good, and everyone was clear about their roles in preventing infection.
Inspectors did find that some staff did not fully understand maximum room occupancy and taking of people’s temperature on arrival was not practised consistently across hospital sites. These issues have already been addressed by Frimley Health after initial feedback from the inspection team. Two damaged sink splash backs were replaced as soon as they were highlighted by inspectors.
Lorna Wilkinson, Frimley Health’s Chief of Nursing and Midwifery, said: “We welcome the findings of this report, which concluded that our leadership and infection control teams are capable and well equipped to manage infection control practices effectively across services at Frimley Health.
“Our staff have performed brilliantly under exceptional pressure throughout the pandemic when Frimley Health was one of the trusts most impacted by Covid-19. It is encouraging that the inspection team found they remain committed to learning and improvement and that our trust vision and strategy support really good infection control practice longer term.
“Following initial feedback from the inspection team, we have already acted on areas for improvement that they identified, and we’ll be examining the full report further to see what more we can do.
“Our vision is to be a leader in health and wellbeing and deliver exceptional services for our communities, and we are committed to constantly improving to achieve this.”
The full report can be found on the CQC website.