Enter and view: Queen’s Hospital: Outpatients’ Departments

Healthwatch Havering conducted an announced Enter and View visit. Healthwatch Havering is aiming to visit all health and social care facilities in the borough. This is a way of ensuring that all services delivered are acceptable and the welfare of the resident, patient or other service-user is not compromised in any way.

Healthwatch Havering visited Queen’s Hospital: Outpatients’ Department on 01/10/2015.

The summary of findings highlighted areas in relation to the premises, care, staff and other matters. The overall findings of the visits were mixed.

The main recommendations informed that while Healthwatch Havering recognises that there are considerable difficulties with finance, recruitment and retention, nonetheless the sheer number of patients using the out patients’ departments requires urgent review of staffing to ensure that demand is met and does not spiral out-of-control. Effort be made to provide a custom-made storage area for clinical supplies. The appointments system be reviewed, addressing issues raised by patients wherever possible is urgently required. Urgent consideration be given to follow up appointments, when investigative scans etc. have been carried out, as to leave patients waiting for 7 months or more for their results is not acceptable. For the number of patients, many of them elderly (Havering has the largest population of all the London Boroughs) the area is working at more than full capacity and more clinicians are needed to reduce waiting times. This must be addressed. In particular, Healthwatch would like to be reassured that, following investigative procedures, patients’ results are examined by an appropriately-qualified clinician in order to ensure that treatment is prioritised appropriately and no avoidable delay is experienced in arranging the required treatment(s).