Aintree Hospital lacks staff to meet the needs of patients, inspection finds

An inspection into Aintree Hospital has found it does not always have enough staff to deliver care and that people were not always cared for in the right place. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) performed an unannounced inspection of medical care at Aintree University Hospital, part of Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, in March.

The unannounced inspection was carried out at Aintree University Hospital’s medical care to review the care provided to people. Following the visit, a report published today found the overall rating for medical care is unchanged, and remains 'requires improvement' as are the ratings for safe, effective, responsive and well-led.

Caring was not rated at this inspection and remains rated as good. The overall rating for Aintree University Hospital, and Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, remains as requires improvement.

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Inspectors found there was not always enough staff to deliver care that met the needs of people who used the service, people were not always cared for in the right place that had the potential to impact people’s safety, privacy and dignity, staff and leaders didn’t always work together or follow pathways when moving people between clinical areas, while the trust fostered a culture where people could speak up, not all staff felt the speak up process was confidential.

However, inspectors also found staff knew how to plan and deliver care in line with current standards and good practice, people’s nutrition and hydration needs were met and leaders tackled inequalities to ensure there was an equal access of care.

In response, Dr Peter Turkington, executive managing director of Aintree University Hospital, said: “Our priority is to provide safe, high-quality care in a timely manner. We are committed to improving and remain engaged with the CQC to understand the detail behind the findings of their report, which we received in September following their inspection of medical care services in March.

“Our teams work incredibly hard in circumstances that can at times be very challenging. I am pleased that inspectors found our staff and leaders working together to address inequalities, mitigating staffing gaps to keep people safe, and using people’s feedback to improve services. We recognise that there are areas to improve and we are taking action to address these.”