Publish date: 3 March 2023

In December 2022 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited West London District Nursing Service, part of Ealing Community Partners. Ealing Community Partners is a group of NHS, local authority and voluntary organisations working together to deliver community health and care services for people in Ealing.

The inspection focussed on one of the five CQC domains only ‘safe’, and this has been rated ‘Requires Improvement’. The effective, caring, responsive and well-led domains were not rated, and the service does not have an overall rating.
The inspection was prompted by the increased pressures that all district nursing teams in London are facing. This is as a result of the wider national context; which is the need to treat people at home where ever possible, combined with district nursing staff shortages.

The inspection outlined many positive aspects of the care provided by the team, the CQC noted: 

  • The service had sufficient staff, who knew the patients. Staff told us that staffing had improved within the last 2 years.
  • Staff understood how to protect patients from abuse and the service worked well with other agencies to do so.
  • Staff completed standardised risk assessments for all new patients, considered patients’ needs holistically.
  • We saw evidence of good interagency work, for example liaison with GPs, tissue viability nurses and the palliative care team.
  • Managers investigated incidents and shared lessons learned with the whole team.
  • Infection prevention and control measures protected people and minimised the risk of infection.

There were however several areas highlighted for improvements to be made which Ealing Community Partners/the Trust will be working at speed to address:

  • Frequency of risk assessment for patients with pressure ulcers or malnutrition.
  • The use of a standardised tool to assess patients who are at risk of physical deterioration, such as the National Early Warning Score tool (NEWS2) tool.
  • Record keeping.

Dr Claire Dillon, Director of Integrated Community Health Services West London NHS Trust, on behalf of Ealing Community Partners says:

“We welcome the recent visit by the CQC inspection team and their feedback on our district nursing services, so that we can continue to improve the care we provide to local residents in Ealing. 

“I am however pleased to see that a lot of positive practice was also observed in this latest inspection, including the outstanding care noted in relation to the innovative use of technology in wound management. 

“We will work quickly as a team to address the areas that have been highlighted as requiring improvement to bring our care up to the required standards”.

Stephanie Bridger Chief Nurse, West London NHS Trust says:
“We are incredibly proud of our community nursing staff and the care they provide in what has been a difficult winter for the NHS. However, we recognise that there are some areas we have fallen short and need to improve, highlighted by this recent report. We welcome this feedback and are working to address it as quickly as possible.”