Health and wellbeing board wants urgent meeting with Colchester Hospital boss after inadequate CQC rating

Nick Hulme (Image: Archant)

Neil Stock has invited the hospital’s chief executive Nick Hulme to attend the Tendring Health and Wellbeing Board as a matter of urgency after the latest critical report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was published.

When the organisation last visited Colchester General it had to take immediate action to prevent patient harm and rated the hospital as inadequate.

The CQC also raised concerns about nursing leadership on the Peldon Ward with issues surrounding a “bullying culture”.

Mr Stock said: “As a community leader it is our duty to be a critical friend and we will use every available opportunity to ensure we support Colchester Hospital to return to the standard of care that patients rightly deserve.

“It’s a real concern to us that significant improvements have not been forthcoming and I believe that now is the time for a more radical approach.

“By working together we will do everything in our power to support real change.”

Tom Nutt, the chief executive of Healthwatch Essex, said it was disappointing to “see a further critical report” about the hospital.

“What makes this report particularly striking is that it highlights recurrent issues at the hospital, and shows the negative impact that these issues are having on patients,” he said.

“Problems with equipment, processes and data have all been shown to be making a difference to the quality of care patients are receiving, and that will obviously be a concern for people in north east Essex.”

Dr Nutt said Healthwatch Essex would continue to work with the hospital and urged patients to get in contact with their experiences of visiting it.

Instead of judging the hospital, former Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell said any criticism should be directed towards Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt.

He also expressed support for the staff at Colchester General.

Last week Mr Hulme, chief executive of Ipswich Hospital Trust who took over in the same role at Colchester Hospital Trust in May, said: “We need to take a long hard look at ourselves in the mirror. We are not consistently delivering a high quality of care to the people we serve in a timely and efficient manner.

“People in north east Essex deserve better from their hospital trust and I want to give them a heartfelt apology.”