Banbury hospital's ‘out-of-date medicine’ slammed by CQC

Horton General Hospital serves a catchment area of 170,000 people but Care Quality Commission inspectors were far from impressed during their visit to the hospital’s maternity unit on October 23, 2023.

The inspectors found multiple problems at the unit, which is overseen by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, concluding that it 'requires improvement overall'.

This is a downgrade from the maternity unit’s previous rating of 'good' following an inspection on February 25 and March 2, 2014.

Horton Midwifery-led Unit was inspected last October.

The latest report criticises the hospital in Oxford Road in Banbury on several areas with a major problem being cleanliness, infection control, and hygiene.

Although staff kept the equipment and premises “visibly clean”, there was some confusion on how to correctly clean the birthing pool.

“Staff did not always follow the trust policy for cleaning of the birthing pool,” read the report.

“We saw the birthing pool was chipped and staff told us it was possible to clean the pool effectively despite the chip and pool decontamination guidelines were in place.

“However, there was some minor inconsistency around the correct procedure for decontamination of the birthing pool.

“Therefore, we cannot be assured that the birthing pool was being cleaned correctly.”

The hospital is on Oxford Road in Banbury. (Image: Horton General Hospital)

Further fears came from the unit’s storage of medicine with incorrect temperatures used as well as some medicine being out-of-date.

“Medicines were not always stored within the required temperature range,” added the report.

“Staff monitored the temperature of the room where most medicines were kept.

"However, they did not monitor the temperature of the corridor, although some medicine cupboards were in the corridor.

“We saw when the room temperature was out of range on October 11, 2023, the record stated, ‘hot in room’ and no details of any action taken to resolve the issue.

“We saw fridge temperatures were checked daily but recorded maximum and minimum temperatures but not the actual temperature.

“Again, there was no evidence of action taken when the temperature was out of range on October 5, 2023. We also found out-of-date suppositories.

“This meant the service could not be assured that medicines were safe to use as they had not been stored correctly.”

The hospital unit was found to be storing out-of-date medicine.

Elsewhere there were also problems with equipment being out-of-date which was seen as causing a potential risk to patients.

“Safety checks of equipment were not being carried out effectively, putting women and birthing people at risk of use of out-of-date equipment,” added the report.

“The adult and neonatal resuscitation trollies were sealed with tamper-proof tags. Checks of the resuscitation trollies were recorded electronically.

“The system logged all equipment, identified when equipment was going out of date, and indicated when checks were required.

“However, the system had not identified a blood-giving set that expired in April 2023. The ambulance transfer bag, which should have been checked monthly, had not been checked since June 25, 2023.

“The bag should also have been sealed with a tamper-proof tag, which was not in place. In addition, there were out-of-date items in this bag.

“We found additional out-of-date items in the storeroom, room 6, and in the birthing pool, the oldest expiry date was August 2022.”

The CQC found that the unit 'Requires Improvement'. (Image: CQC)

The trust responded to the report, sharing its disappointment over the findings but vowed to make improvements.

Milica Redfearn, director of midwifery at OUH, said: “We are disappointed by this result but we always welcome feedback on ways to improve our services and we will work with staff, women, and birthing people to make the improvements suggested.

“We have a great team at the Horton Midwifery-led Unit as the inspectors found when they visited."

Professor Meghana Pandit, CEO at OUH, said: “As a learning organisation we will improve services along the lines highlighted in the report, although I am disappointed for the staff who have been working so hard to make improvements already.

“I want to be very clear that our commitment to the Horton General Hospital is unwavering, and although this new rating is a setback, we are immensely proud of our local hospital, the services it provides, and our wonderful staff.

“Our plans for the Horton as a modern district general hospital providing urgent and local care to the people of Banbury and surrounding areas are set out in our Clinical Strategy.”