Hospital’s clean bill of health

THE Royal Oldham Hospital has been given the thumbs up from a health care regulator.


But improvements are needed in how medicines are managed and how staff complete patient records.

In January, 2010, inspectors from the Care Quality Commission — the independent watchdog of health care for England — carried out spot checks across all four Pennine Acute Trust hospital sites in Oldham, Bury, Rochdale and North Manchester.

It found The Royal Oldham and the trust’s other four hospitals were fully compliant and met all 21 essential standards and outcomes of quality and patient safety.

Every trust receives a CQC review of compliance as part of its routine scheduled of planned reviews.

Inspectors visited nine wards across the trust, spending four hours on each ward observing how patients were being cared for, talking with staff and checking trust and patient records.

Nine patients and eight staff were interviewed on two wards at The Royal Oldham during the unannounced visit.

Marian Carroll, director of nursing at The Pennine Acute Trust, welcomed the CQC findings which she said reflected the hard work and commitment of staff.

She said: “Patient safety and improving the quality of care and the patient experience continue to be the trust’s top priority.

“We will build on the outcomes and findings of this review and continue to improve services and the experience of our patients, their relatives and carers.”