An inspection of Moorfields Eye Hospital praised the accessibility of its services, but warned more needs to be done to address its significant “cultural issues”.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out inspections of the Finsbury hospital in September and November triggered by two incidents, one in which a patient died, and another in which a backlog of referrals was caused by an IT issue.
The health watchdog last inspected the hospital in November and December 2018 and the ratings for the trust and hospital were unchanged, remaining as ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ respectively.
Nicola Wise, CQC head of hospital inspection, said: “Our inspection found the trust’s leaders had a good vision for what they wanted to achieve for people, and they were taking steps towards that.
“We also found surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital was accessible to people, without long waits, because the service had enough staff.
But the report also highlighted "cultural issues" affecting relationships between staff.
She added: “Some staff also felt more work was needed to improve communication between some staff groups and develop cohesive working relationships to support good patient care.
“Leaders must help staff have the confidence to speak up when they feel they have been treated unfairly, disrespectfully or not in line with the trust’s values because these issues ultimately affect patient care. The trust is taking action to address these cultural issues, and it must continue this work at pace.
Dr Martin Kuper, chief executive of Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This report underlines that we are continuing to deliver the world-class eye care our patients deserve.
“Like many NHS organisations, Moorfields has gone through an intense period of change and, having maintained our rating, we are focussed on continuing to improve our services so that our patients continue to get the very best treatment and care.
“We know where we have work to do and have already put new structures, people and plans into place to ensure our staff feel better supported and listened to at work.”
Moorfields Eye Hospital is set to move to a new site in King’s Cross by 2026.
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