Sunderland and South Tyneside rated ‘good’ by inspectors

Hospital trust bosses have been given the thumbs-up by independent inspectors,
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A major inspection of community-based health services and acute hospital care has rated services provided by the newly formed South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), rated community-based health services as ‘outstanding’ and acute hospital care as ‘good’.

Overall, the Trust was rated ‘good’ with many areas of outstanding practice including its end of life care services at St Benedict’s Hospice in Ryhope and community sexual health services.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The CQC also praised several areas of outstanding practice across all parts of the new organisation including:

The trust has been rated 'good'The trust has been rated 'good'
The trust has been rated 'good'

·a culture of openness and inclusivity promoted by the leadership team with staff encouraged to value and respect diversity;

·improvements delivered in the quality of care through the use of technology and the Trust’s Global Digital Exemplar programme;

·specialist services;

·acute hospital services;

·and community services.

Inspectors praised the board of directors for creating a ‘sense of common purpose based on shared values’ and a positive culture that supported and valued staff, stating ‘this had been achieved whilst going through a merger which was a significant achievement’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Trust Chief Executive Ken Bremner MBE said: “I am immensely proud of what we have achieved in such a short space of time since we became one organisation. This CQC result is testament to our staff and their unwavering resolve to put patient care at the absolute heart of everything we do, every single day.

“Despite lots of upheaval and change, not to mention exceptionally busy times operationally for our services, staff in all parts of the Trust have kept their focus on what matters most – delivering exceptional care and compassion to the communities we serve. Nowhere has this been more evident than in recent months as our teams have rallied together in response to COVID-19.”

Trust chairman John Anderson CBE added: “To achieve a ‘good’ rating following our first comprehensive CQC inspection as one Trust really is a fantastic achievement for our staff and excellent news for the people of South Tyneside and Sunderland.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

How to subscribe to the print edition

It’s easy to subscribe to your local newspaper. We have arranged a special 20 per cent off subscription offer for people to take advantage of. Visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk, choose the newspaper title, the type of subscription and enter your details.