Fears over ‘out-of-date drugs’ at Fryatt unit

Concordia, which runs from the Fryatt Hospital, was given the contract to run skin care services in north-east Essex in July last year.

This July, the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was informed patients were subjected to delays in receiving their medication to treat dermatological conditions because legal agreements were not in place.

Members of the CCG’s nursing and quality team carried out inspections in August and September and highlighted concerns at the Fryatt Hospital, where a follow-up visit is planned.

The report said: “Standards of hygiene and cleanliness in a number of areas did not comply with national standards, medication was out of date, specimens were inappropriately stored in a medication fridge and Concordia staff were unaware of how to access organisational policies.”

Health bosses discussed their concerns at the CCG’s board meeting on Tuesday afternoon at the Columbine Centre in Walton.

The issues were presented by Lisa Llewelyn, who is the director of nursing and clinical quality at the CCG.

She said where improvements were needed to be made, she has been assured improvements have been implemented.

She said: “It’s not just about finding something is wrong, it is about working with them to improve hospitals.”

A clinical commissioning group spokesman said: “Assurance is being sought on the necessary improvements needed to achieve the standards of care required within the contract.

“An improvement plan has been received by North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group from Concordia.”

A Concordia Health spokesman said: “We take patient safety extremely seriously, and we are pleased to confirm that no patients were affected.

“We immediately addressed all issues and in addition to our own site inspections, we have improved how we monitor the sites to ensure this cannot reoccur.

“We are proud of the standards of care that we continue to deliver in Essex.”