South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to improve infection control after regulator takes action
Monitor is stepping up its regulatory action at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust following a rise in the number of patients picking up infections in hospital.
The trust will receive expert help to develop and implement an improved plan to cut rates of C.difficile infection, following enforcement action by the health sector regulator.
The trust, which provides specialist services to 1.5 million people in the Tees Valley and parts of Durham, North Yorkshire and Cumbria, has failed to act quickly enough to reduce the number of infections that patients acquire in its hospitals.
The trust’s leadership will have to report back to Monitor on a monthly basis and make sure that the improvements are sustainable.
The regulator took action in July last year over a range of issues including C.difficile infections, financial sustainability, and the way the trust’s board was functioning.
Paul Chandler, Regional Director at Monitor, said:
The number of patients picking up infections in the trust’s hospitals has risen and we have taken further action to make sure the trust responds swiftly.
The trust will get expert help to draw up and implement a plan for reducing the number of infections and make sustainable improvements for its patients.
Monitor will continue to scrutinise the trust’s financial and board performance to ensure that recent improvements are sustained on behalf of patients.
If improvements in infection control are not made and sustained the regulator may take further action.