A DAMNING report says an award-winning Essex hospital is failing to protect its patients' welfare. The Care Quality Commission also said Broomfield Hospital was failing to manage medicines.
Hospital chiefs already promised they would right their wrongs by January after the CQC visited in July 2012 – yet inspectors said they remained "non-compliant" after staging a surprise visit in February.
The CQC report highlighted two areas where action was required:
Patients were not always given an accurate assessment of their actual or potential risk of malnutrition and dehydration.
Medicine cabinets were not being locked securely, noting this meant unauthorised people could tamper with them.
But inspectors did find the hospital was "meeting nutritional needs" of its patients.
Andrea Gordon, a deputy director of operations for CQC, said: "The failings at Broomfield Hospital are a real concern.
"The CQC has been working to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people receiving this service and we have told the trust changes need to be made.
"We have been working with our partner agencies with regard to the trust and we will be closely monitoring its progress.
"Our inspectors will return in the near future and if we find the required progress is not made we won't hesitate to take further action where necessary."
The hospital had to present an action plan to the CQC by last Thursday and its management claims to be making amends.
A CQC spokesperson said: "Inspectors looked at nursing records for 15 patients and found a large number of the records contained inaccurate information.
"This meant that clinical decisions could be made in relation to information that was not correct."
She added: "There were not always effective arrangements in place for the storage, security and safe administration of some medicines."
Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust serves the population of 380,000 and boast various awards as "the best hospital in the region".
Patients praised the food across the hospital, while one patient on the stroke ward commended the housekeeping.
A trust spokesman said: "It speaks volumes that we are the top performing hospital in the region but this is disappointing – the CQC are like the Ofsted of hospital inspectors.
"We have plans in place to get it sorted. The chief nurse is working with the CQC to put the plans in place."
