IN the same week that Basildon Hospital has been upgraded in its rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a visitor whose brother is being treated has highlighted some of the poor conditions within its corridors and wards.

Following inspections by the CQC in January and February of this year, Basildon Hospital, one of three 'large acute' centres operated in the county by the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, was rated as 'inadequate' and placed in special measures.

However, a report from the latest CQC inspection in July just published on October 27 shows that this rating has been upgraded, and is now listed as 'requires improvement'.

Assessing whether care delivered at the facility was 'safe', 'effective' and 'well-led', it was found that all three categories' ratings had been improved to 'requires improvement'.

That has been greeted with a statement from the Chief Executive of Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, Matthew Hopkins, who said: "We are on an improvement journey, which has been recognised by our quick turnaround from inadequate in July to requires improvement now.

"This is a positive step forward and inspectors clearly recognised the raft of improvements that have been put in place.

"These changes are having an impact and we were able to demonstrate our commitment to providing a quality, safe, effective, and caring service."

But Thurrock resident Victoria Teager has put forward a different view after recent visits.

She told Nub News: "I would like to express my disdain at the state of our local hospital Basildon.

"My brother was admitted to Horndon Ward after a lengthy period in a and e. He spent twelve hours parked in a corridor before being given a bed . He remains in hospital no clearer as to what his issue is.

"The walk to his ward from the main car park is littered with 29 broken beds and even more mattresses. One particular stretch of corridor has looked as below for the whole duration of his stay with perhaps growing amounts of absorbent padding as the week has progressed despite minimal rain. People are dumping litter in the buckets.

"The corridors are horrific and seem to reflect the general apathy that seems to unfortunately prevail. I feel the need to share this situation now as seven days of the same mess is not ok."

Waste buckets collecting water and rubbish in corridors.

That prompted the following response from Jonathan Dunk, Chief Commercial Officer for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, who said: "We are sorry about the poor condition of some of our corridors and are working to improve the first impressions people have of our hospitals.

"Unfortunately, recent heavy rainfall intensified the leaks in our aging buildings, which are being addressed.

"We have replaced a large number of mattresses in recent weeks and are aware of the build-up of old mattresses and beds awaiting repair, these will all be removed from site over the next few days."

The inspection of the hospital earlier this year highlighted some similar issues to those identified by Ms Teager including leaking pipes, walls and rules.

It also had plenty of other criticisms and highlighted "concerns relating to poor governance, incomplete risk assessments, incomplete patient records, equipment not being maintained, patients' nutrition and hydration needs not being met and medication not being managed in line with the service's medicines policy."

It was found that as well as being critically understaffed, the hospital staff on many shifts "did not always respect patients' privacy and dignity", audit checks were rarely completed or carried out correctly regarding risk assessments, and maintaining medical equipment or administering medication.

Due to broken microwaves and a lack of personnel on wards, there were also no 'protected' meal times, which led to patients going without an acceptable quantity and standard of nutrition and hydration.

In one instance, a bin intended for the disposal of sharp objects was being used to catch water from a leak.

As the inspection in July was a reassessment during which not every breach identified in the January and February inspections was revisited and previous improvement notices remained in place. This meant that the new rating was capped at 'requires improvement'.

However, comments in the latest inspection report stated that staff "gave patients enough food and drink to meet their needs and improve their health", "supported patients to make informed decisions about their care and treatment", and "completed and updated risk assessments for each patient and removed or minimised risks".

The report also said: "Leaders operated effective governance processes, throughout the service. Staff at all levels were clear about their roles and accountabilities and had regular opportunities to meet, discuss and learn from the performance of the service."

It looks as if the hospital still has a long way to go to get back to acceptable standards.