Care Quality Commission Report On Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich

A Royal Borough of Greenwich Statement

The Royal Borough of Greenwich has reacted to the Reacting to the Care Quality Commission report into the standard of care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, Cllr. David Gardner, Royal Borough of Greenwich Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care said:

"We have noted the findings of the report which has been released following an unannounced inspection of urgent and emergency services and medical services ‎carried out in June.

We are obviously very concerned that some aspects of the care were found to be totally unacceptable but we do note that Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust shares these concerns and has put in place measures to address these issues.

We are also pleased that the Care Quality Commission found an overall improvement in A&E services at the QEH since its last inspection in 2014 and that the strong leadership at the hospital has been praised.

We also recognise - as the report highlights - that there is a strong, dedicated and caring workforce at the hospital and we hugely appreciate the hard work and commitment of QEH staff. ‎We know they work tirelessly under significant strain and overall we remain deeply concerned about the lack of funding of the NHS as a whole, which we noted at our Full Council meeting in July.

It is so important that we ensure a coordinated approach to health care in the borough - and that collaboration between NHS providers, the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and ourselves is as effective as it can ‎be for the benefit of all of our residents.

We will continue to press the CCG to increase the number intermediate beds at Eltham Community Hospital to 2015 levels as well as to reintroduce the Hospital at Home service so patients receive more appropriate care and delays in transfer of care are reduced.

We will continue to work with the Trust and other NHS bodies to improve the quality of care, to press for proper funding and to continue our efforts to focus on promoting good health and wellbeing with strong community and social care services to keep people healthier and to reduce the pressures on our acute hospital.