A damning report has said surgery patients have been at risk due to a lack of equipment and inadequate safety checks at Croydon University Hospital.

Two warning notices have been issued by the Care Quality Commission after an unannounced inspection in June discovered serious problems at the hospital.

The inspection was made following complaints about a number of incidents within surgical operating theatres at Croydon University Hospital.

During the four day tour inspectors observed the trust had inadequate monitoring equipment on its maternity wards and a lack of equipment in the theatre suite.

Only one side of a two sided bay was regularly used as a result of this lack of equipment increasing patient transfer times and leading to delays in patients’ procedures.

Recommended safety procedures were not being used by all staff and checks such as swab and instrument counts did not take place according to expected best practice guidance.

Matthew Trainer, Deputy Director of CQC in London, said: “The standards of quality and safety in care that CQC checks are those that the law says everyone should expect. These standards exist to protect vulnerable people – who cannot always speak up for themselves – from being put at risk of harm.

“A huge number of people rely on Croydon University Hospital for treatment and care. Our inspectors found that people having surgical treatment there were at serious risk of receiving poor care, and that there was not enough medical equipment in several parts of the hospital to meet people’s needs. “These findings are very worrying, and prompted us to issue the Trust with two formal warnings.

“Our inspectors will return in the near future to carry out another unannounced inspection. If we find that the Trust is not making the required progress we won’t hesitate to use our legal powers further to protect the people who use their services.”

A spokesman for the Trust explained staff had been using its own version of a surgical checklist, but has now changed to use the World Health Organisation standard checklist.

More equipment has been ordered for the maternity ward, while six new monitors have been installed in the theatre recovery area and plans are in place to return patients to wards quicker to reduce overnight stays.

The Trust also pointed to a large staff recruitment drive, and plans for a new acute medical unit as moves which will improve service at Croydon University Hospital.

John Goulston, Interim Chief Executive said: “We are naturally very disappointed with the findings of the CQC. Since receiving the notices and report we have taken immediate action.

"Within surgery we are once again confident that our surgical services are now undertaking the appropriate checklists and we have also ordered equipment for different areas including our escalation wards and maternity unit that will bring us back up to compliance.

“We acknowledge there is still a lot to do, our recruitment campaign that will replace 150 agency staff with permanent members of staff is underway and there are also a range of longer term initiatives in place work to drive through further improvements.

“We should also acknowledge that overall the inspectors found many positive things to praise including saying that “all of the staff that we spoke with were welcoming, open, and receptive to the inspection” and that patient feedback everywhere was mainly positive.”