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North Devon District Hospital

Provider Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region South West Last inspected 14 Jul 2021

Overall rating: Requires Improvement  View full CQC report

Domain ratings

Five CQC key questions
Safe
Requires Improvement
Effective
Requires Improvement
Caring
Outstanding
Responsive
Good
Well-led
Requires Improvement

Earlier inspection findings

pre-2024 framework · 5 must-do 4 should-do

Must-do actions (5)

Legal requirements based on regulation breaches identified during inspection.

Must-do action 1 of 5
Must do
Safe
Ensure there are sufficient arrangements to respond appropriately and in good time to people’s changing needs.
Regulation: Regulation 12(2) Safe care and treatment.
⚠ Medical staff did not always attend to deteriorating patients in a timely way. We saw evidence of this in two cases: one patient was experiencing chest pains and the other respiratory difficulties. Both waited for an hour or more for the doctor to assess them and administer appropriate treatment. In …
Must-do action 2 of 5
Must do
Safe
Ensure there is always adequate cover and support for the medical workforce, including out of hours. Where support is available, ensure this is used effectively.
Regulation: Regulation 12(2) Safe care and treatment.
⚠ The service did not always have enough medical staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep patients safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment. There was a lack of oversight of locum (non-substantive doctors who did not have a permanent contract) activities …
Must-do action 3 of 5
Must do
Safe
Ensure substances hazardous to health and medical gases such as oxygen are checked and stored securely in line with the trust’s policies and procedures.
Regulation: Regulation 12(2) Safe care and treatment.
⚠ On Tarka Ward we found a hazardous cleaning substance (Taski Sprint Spitfire Spray) which may be damaging to a person’s health stored in an unlocked room that could be accessed by unauthorised persons. Oxygen was not always stored safely. Tarka ward had oxygen cylinders stored on the floor and not …
Must-do action 4 of 5
Must do
Safe
Ensure the management of patients with different needs to the speciality of the ward are safe and ensure appropriate medical oversight.
Regulation: Regulation 12 – Safe care and treatment.
⚠ In some cases, patients were admitted onto medical wards which were not designed or equipped to deal with their specific illness or needs. The system of allocation of patients to doctors in some areas was not clear and led to confusion for nursing and medical staff when patients needed urgent …
Must-do action 5 of 5
Must do
Safe
Ensure staff are encouraged and enabled to report all incidents including near misses.
Regulation: Regulation 12 – Safe care and treatment.
⚠ Staff recognised and reported incidents but they did not always report near misses. A few staff said they did not always report near misses and they were not aware of their responsibility to do so. We were also made aware of a few cases where staff were labelled negatively if …

Should-do actions (4)

Recommended improvements to enhance service quality.

Should-do action 1 of 4
Should do
Safe
Consistently check fridges used for the storage of medicines.
Should-do action 2 of 4
Should do
Safe
Improve the standards of record keeping so they are legible, complete and where necessary, indicate they have been reviewed by a consultant by way of appropriate signature.
Should-do action 3 of 4
Should do
Safe
Monitor and improve mandatory training compliance so staff are up to date with training appropriate to their role.
Should-do action 4 of 4
Should do
Responsive
Review the provision of services for patients who are frail to improve their outcome.

Location details

CQC ID: RBZ12
Local authority: Devon
Region: South West

Inspection report

Type: Comprehensive inspection
Date: 14 July 2021
Rating: Requires Improvement
Actions: 5 must-do 4 should-do
AI-extracted 3 Jun 2026