THE NHS trust behind Vale Community Hospital has been criticised for over-stretched staffing teams and the standard of care in its urgent care services following its latest inspection.

Waiting areas at the hospital run by Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust were described as “cramped” and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors could also find no evidence that medicine fridge temperatures were checked.

In four of the five assessed areas the trust was given the second lowest mark of ‘requires improvement’. However in it was described as ‘good’ with regard to whether or not services are caring.

The trust, which also runs hospitals in Stroud and Cirencester, was heavily criticised for its urgent care service which was described as ‘inadequate’.

Inspectors found there to be adequate levels of staffing according to regulations but could not be assured that enough appropriately qualified were always available at minor injuries units.

The chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said: “Throughout Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust we found that the care offered by staff was kind and compassionate and promoted people’s privacy and dignity. Staff spoke with passion about their work and were proud of what they did.

“However we were concerned about safety in the urgent care service provided by the minor injuries units.

“We were not assured that people were adequately protected from the risk of harm, and we were not convinced that this had been addressed adequately yet by the trust board.

“Some of the community teams were overstretched because there were not enough experienced nurses or therapists, with long waiting lists for some of these services.

“While there are many good services – we have also been very clear about those areas for improvement, which I expect the trust to address as a priority.”

Inspectors found that some patients waited too long to be assessed by a registered nurse on arrival at minor injuries and illness units and that unregistered practitioners were undertaking this task without adequate training or supervision.

Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust said that a number of the issues raised had already been addressed and that the trust is “keen to continuously improve”.

Paul Jennings, chief executive of the trust, said: “We fully take on board the CQC’s findings. As a relatively young NHS organisation, the trust is still developing systems to capture a complete view of all our activities, along with a robust IT infrastructure to support our geographically dispersed work force.

“I fully recognise that the trust requires improvement, primarily in respect of our organisational processes, and I’m confident that each and every one of us will reflect on the feedback, and strive to become better in the areas highlighted for improvement.

“As a trust, we’re keen to continuously improve, and we have already completed actions which needed urgent focus.

“For the remaining areas, we have developed realistic, detailed, short, medium and long-term improvement action plans.

“We look forward to welcoming the CQC inspectors back at a later date, to provide an update on how we are progressing against our plan.”