Paul Simpson, Acting Chief Executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said:
"The CQC visited the Trust at a time that was particularly challenging. They recognised that our inpatient services are caring, responsive and effective for patients - with our teams providing kind and compassionate care, with a clear vision for the future - but that the areas of safe and well-led required improvements. This has led to a change in the overall rating for our medicine inpatient service and East Surrey Hospital.
"Delivering safe, high-quality care to our patients is our absolute priority, and the Trust aspires to be an outstanding organisation across all its sites with services that patients feel safe and confident in, and we are committed to improving our ratings in every area.
"Since the CQC visit last September, East Surrey Hospital has made substantial changes. Many of the improvements raised by the CQC were in progress at the time of the inspection and have been further embedded over the past year.
"We have significantly strengthened our governance processes, launched a new 24/7 Freedom to Speak Up Service, and are now improving safety outcomes and enhancing our medicines safety policies and procedures.
"We recognise we have more to do to ensure patients can feel the impact of the positive changes we are making, but our teams are dedicated to patient care and continuous improvement, and this report will help us focus our efforts on making the immediate and long-term improvements that will deliver for our patients.”
Actions since the inspection:
- Reviewed and strengthened our governance, with new structures that ensure better oversight and shared learning
- Launched a new 24/7 Freedom to Speak Up Service in partnership with The Guardian Service
- Agreed a new Nutrition and Hydration Strategy for patients, staff and visitors
- Expanding our improvement infrastructure, including SASH+, Let’s Get You Home, and our new Excellence in Care accreditation programme
- Improving safety outcomes such as reducing falls to below our Trust target and enhancing oversight of deteriorating patients
- Stabilising staffing in key areas and reducing vacancy rates in Nursing and Midwifery Registered
- Enhancing medicine safety through updated policies, strengthened audits, and improved national safety alert compliance
- Updating the ward-level dashboards, launching the Genome Quality Assurance app, and completing a Trust-wide anti-ligature programme
- Continuing to improve the accessibility, safety, and patient experience within our physical environment
- Between January 2025 and May 2025 skin risk assessments in our Emergency Department increased by 63% - and are now at 100%
- Significantly improved our MAST training compliance for safeguarding and PSIRF.