AIREDALE General Hospital bosses say they have addressed a number of shortcomings noted by a Care Quality Commission inspection, including a lack of oxygen on a resuscitation trolley.

The hospital had been paid an unannounced visit by the CQC in September last year to look at specific areas in relation to the safe and well-led domains on the Critical Care Unit and on some of the medical wards.

The areas inspected included a selection of wards or departments that were identified as “requiring improvement” during a comprehensive inspection in March 2016..

At the latest visit it was found that out of 23 recommendations made, 19 had been delivered, three were on track to be delivered and one was partially delivered.

Karl Mainprize, Medical Director of Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The report highlighted some areas for improvement, particularly around documentation, equipment checks and the completion of patient records. These areas are included in an action plan that we developed last autumn and we are already making good progress to ensure that we meet all the requirements for improvement.”

Key findings by the CQC in September included the resuscitation trolley had not been checked for the previous six days and there was no oxygen on the trolley.

This had been recently replaced and was stored elsewhere on the unit. There were still some shortfalls of staff on some shifts; two person equipment checks did not always happen and six patients’ clinical observations had not always been completed in the specified timeframe.

The inspectors also raised concerns about the way in which records were being store.

The report said: “On the day of inspection we found records were not stored securely on ward 15.

“Medical and nursing notes were stored in cardboard boxes on the nurses’ station, and were left unattended whilst staff cared for patients.

“Monitoring of patients on the ward with telemetry varied dependent on clinical need and the patients National Early Warning Score.”

The report said changes had been made at a senior leadership level and support had been put into place on the unit.

Mr Mainprize added: “It is encouraging to read that the inspectors recognised good progress since the previous inspection in March 2016, particularly around staffing, leadership and training compliance. Our critical care staff work extremely hard to care for our most seriously ill patients. They have embraced the action plan and that the position now, six months later, is very different. However, there is never room for complacency, and as a Trust we always work on continuously improving our services so that we can give our patients the best care possible.”