Care Quality Commission Report on Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

Front of the main hospital buildings at St Helier and the front of our emergency Department at Epsom

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals has awarded an Outstanding rating to the largest hip and knee replacement centre run by the National Health Service at Epsom Hospital. The South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC) is located on the Epsom Hospital campus. It is the largest hip and knee replacement centre in the United Kingdom and is one of the largest in Europe.

Overall, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has been rated as Requires Improvement following its first comprehensive inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A team of inspectors visited the trust’s two main hospitals, Epsom Hospital and St Helier Hospital, over a seven day period in November 2015.

Both Epsom Hospital and St Helier Hospital were rated as Requires Improvement. In addition to the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre being rated as Outstanding, the Renal Service (including the satellite dialysis units), Outpatients and Diagnostics, and End of Life Care were rated as Good.

Epsom and St Helier hospitals’ Chief Executive, Daniel Elkeles said: “There is a lot that the trust does outstandingly well and our teams should feel justly proud. I am pleased that the CQC have recognised this.

“We do recognise, however, that there are areas that we need to improve and we accept all of the findings of the CQC report. We are determined to make the required improvement in the areas that they have highlighted. In our five year strategy, which we published in April 2015, we recognised that one of our challenges was to consistently provide high quality care across all of our services, and the CQC report confirms for us that we still have work to do to ensure that we are achieving this.

“The report recognises the challenges that we have faced in many of our services given the uncertainty about our hospitals’ future over so many years and the poor quality of our buildings. Indeed, the CQC have made particular mention of the fact that “The existing estate in some areas was not fit for the purpose of delivering modern healthcare.” Whilst we accept all the issues the CQC have raised, given these significant challenges it is a great tribute to our staff how well they have delivered care.

“Many of the areas that they identified were already the subject of improvement programmes and CQC highlighting of them has helped us accelerate progress. We have robust plans in place to improve in all the areas that they identify.”

Full reports including ratings for all key services are available at: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RVR.

SWLEOC is a joint venture of Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust and Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.