BASILDON Hospital has been praised for its “outstanding care and treatment” in a new report by the Care Quality Commission.

The document, published by the health watchdog on Friday, shares examples of good practice at 12 hospitals across the country.

Basildon was featured in the “Celebrating good care, championing outstanding care” report, in recognition of its transformation from a trust placed in special measures, to one of the first to be awarded a good rating by the Care Quality Commission.

The 11-month turnaround has been put down to “excellent leadership” by chief executive Clare Panniker and the commitment of dedicated staff.

Basildon Hospital, in Nethermayne, has introduced new processes to monitor how well it is performing, and uses an improved complaints structure to ensure it learns from mistakes and gives patients and family members the answers they are looking for.

This led to the hospital being featured in the new Care Quality Commission report as a positive example of a “responsive” trust.

Giles Thorpe, deputy director of clinical governance at the trust, said: “Crucially, complaints and any associated serious incident investigations are coordinated.

“If a care delivery problem is identified from a complaint, it is immediately escalated through governance processes, incident-reported and, where required, a serious incident investigation is undertaken.

“Consequently, two previously separate governance processes are nowmanaged as one experience for patients, or their representatives.

“We work with complainants to ensure their key questions are the focus of our response. Meetings are offered to complainants at the earliest stage of the process. Knowing patients and families generally prefer the opportunity to have face-to-face contact with care-givers and decision-makers, the trust offers meetings with the responsible clinical team to seek an early resolution to their concerns.”

Patient safety issues are highlighted on the staff intranet system, and a patient panel and patient experience group has been set up.

Basildon Hospital was put into special measures by health regulator Monitor, in July 2013, because of concerns about its high death rates following the Government-led Keogh review, but had sanctions on its licence lifted in June 2014.