NHS Improvement confirms hospital trust no longer in special measures

The hospital trust was rated ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) just two years after being placed into special measures for quality.

NHS Improvement, which works to support hospital trusts, confirmed BSUH was no longer in special measures.

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Dr Kathy Mclean, medical director and chief operating officer at NHS Improvement, said: “I am delighted to see improvement on this scale and my congratulations go to every member of staff at the Trust. Everyone at the Trust has shown an unwavering commitment to improving care for their patients.

“Today’s decision and the rating by CQC are evidence of what is possible through shared leadership and learning from others’ success across the NHS.

“High quality care and financial grip go hand in hand and the Trust must now ensure that all these recent improvements are maintained and that patients continue to benefit.”

NHS Improvement had worked to secure new management arrangements at BSUH in April 2017, when the Board and executive team of neighbouring Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WSHT) took over the running of BSUH led by chief executive Marianne Griffiths.

The priority for the team was to rapidly improve the quality of care and experience for patients using services at the hospital, NHS Improvement said.

It said as part of these arrangements, the new executive team imported the ‘patient-first’ approach from WSHT which contributed to its own outstanding rating from the CQC for its hospitals in Chichester and Worthing.

The patient-first approach, which is praised by the CQC in its report, is described as ‘designed to empower front-line staff to make improvements themselves’.

Anne Eden, regional director for the south east NHS Improvement and NHS England, said: “Patients must be at the heart of everything we do. The Trust has shown that they are their priority and have embraced the opportunity to learn from excellence from elsewhere in the region. The well-deserved recognition of joint chief executive Marianne Griffiths in the New Year’s Honours is testament to this.

“Even against a backdrop of such significant improvement, there will always be more we can do. I will now be asking Marianne and her team to build on this success and reduce the time patients wait for their treatment to further improve their experience of the Trust.”