The Care Quality Commission has raised the rating for urgent and emergency services at Milton Keynes Hospital from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ following an inspection in April 2024.
The inspection assessed all areas of urgent and emergency services at MKUH across the CQC’s five inspection domains which include whether services are safe, caring, effective, responsive to people's needs and well-led. Both ratings for the safe and well-led domains have been raised to ‘good’, with all other areas maintaining their already good rating.
Milton Keynes is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and demand for urgent and emergency services at the hospital has increased year-on-year, with the Emergency Department seeing and treating over 100,000 patients annually. While good care quality and standards were acknowledged by the CQC, the Trust recognises that waiting times have increased for patients.
Joe Harrison, Chief Executive at MKUH, said: “As Chief Executive, my priority is ensuring the safety of our patients as well as our staff so I am delighted our Emergency Department has been rated as ‘good’ in all care quality areas.
“This assessment of our Emergency Department is testament to the commitment, passion and dedication of colleagues working across emergency care. I am really pleased to see their hard work reflected in the CQC’s ‘good’ rating.
“While we remain one of the best performers for emergency waiting times nationally, I know that many of our patients are still waiting longer than we would like to receive initial assessment and treatment in the ED. I acknowledge the feedback received from the CQC and this will inform the work that we are already doing to continually improve services for the residents of Milton Keynes.”
In the report, the CQC praised the Trust’s safety and quality of care, as well as its approach to continuous learning, ensuring that actions are proactively put in place following an incident. Staff further demonstrated delivering an empathetic and compassionate service, endeavouring to meet the individual needs of patients. Other positive reflections include:
- Staff used translation services effectively when caring for people who didn’t speak English as a first language.
- Staff knew how to protect people from abuse. Inspectors saw two people for whom safeguarding concerns had been identified and action taken.
- Other organisations gave positive feedback about working with the emergency department. For example, ambulance crews said wait times were low and staff managed people’s care well.
- Security staff confidently used de-escalation techniques and listening and communication skills to engage with people struggling with mental health issues and other challenging behaviour.
The report highlighted areas for improvement, including a clear escalation policy for when the department is at capacity. A draft policy was delivered to inspectors during their inspection and is now fully embedded across the department. Work is underway to reduce waiting times for patients, working closely with partners across the local health and care community to enable residents to access the most appropriate services they need, in a timely manner.
To read the report in full, visit the CQC website.
