Care Quality Commission (CQC) praise Royal Free staff for elderly patient after-care

The Care Quality Commission raised concerns over standards for older patients at the Hampstead hospital in May, recommending that they should be kept better informed about their treatment and asked about their food.

But after a recent follow-up inspection the CQC – an independent health watchdog – found that patients were “sitting comfortably and enjoying the meals they had at lunch”.

It added: “We found that patients’ privacy and dignity was respected and patients were quickly responded to by staff.”

The Royal Free introduced a scheme called “nurse-rounding” last year under which staff check on patients every hour.