Wycombe Hospital has been rated as ‘requires improvement’ after a patient was sedated without appropriate consent to “enable compliance with treatment”.

Out of date medicine, incomplete patients records and deteriorating décor which presented an “infection control and safety risk” were also discovered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) during an inspection in September last year.

Medical care – including older people’s care – surgery and end of life care were all scrutinised during the visit at the Queen Alexandra Road hospital – which saw the rating remain the same as the previous inspection in 2015.

The report, which was published last week stated: "There was not always adequate numbers of staff on duty and the data submitted showed the hospital did not meet their own planned staffing levels for August 2016.

“Not all staff had completed their statutory and mandatory training and this included safeguarding children and vulnerable adults level 2, Duty of Candour, infection control, medicines management and basic life support.

“Not all staff had a good understanding of the principles of Mental Capacity Act and associated Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and their responsibilities in relation to these areas, to support people whose circumstances made them vulnerable.

“We saw evidence that a patient had been given sedation to enable compliance with treatment without consent or a DoLS application.”

An unclean mortuary trolley was also found and clothing belonging to deceased patients was “not appropriately stored” while awaiting collection, according to the report.

It continued: “However, the mortuary trolley was found to be dirty with no agreed cleaning schedule in place and deceased clothing was not appropriately stored while awaiting collection.

“There was also one cubicle on In the Cardiac and Stroke Receiving Unit (CSRU), where deterioration in the décor presented an infection control and patient safety risk.”

Incomplete anaesthetic logbooks were discovered in the operating departments and daily checks had not been carried out on some wards to ensure resuscitation equipment was “ready for use in an emergency”, the CQC stated.

However staff were praised for their “positive and caring attitude” by patients and their knowledge of the hospital’s safeguarding policy was recognised as they routinely assessed and monitored risk to patients.

The report stated: “In all areas, patients and relatives were positive about the caring attitude of staff, their kindness and their compassion.

“All patients we spoke with would recommend the service to their friends and family. This was supported by data collected for the Friends and Family Test.”

Wycombe Hospital was recognised as ‘good’ in the ‘caring’ category, as well as intensive/critical care, maternity and gynaecology, and services for children and young people.

Chief executive of Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust, Neil Dardis said: “We are pleased that they acknowledge that some tough challenges have been tackled and improvements made since their last inspection.

“It is clear though that there is still more work to do and the report rightly highlighted those areas where we are not getting it right all the time for our patients and staff.

“We have an ambition to become one of the safest healthcare systems in the country and the recommendations made in these reports will help us with our ongoing quality improvement programme.”