Chief Inspector of Hospitals publishes his findings on Bradford District Care Trust

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has published his first report on the quality of care provided by Bradford District Care Trust.

The trust which serves a population of 577,000 people in the Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven areas was one of the first specialist providers of community and mental health services to be inspected under CQC's new approach.  

Inspectors found that the trust was providing a good service to the population that it served. Within all the core services inspectors saw evidence of good practice. This was being delivered by caring and professional staff who were working together well.

Overall, most people's needs were met, although recent changes to services meant that people had to wait too long to get the care and treatment they required on the acute mental health wards and in community health services. People had difficulty getting access to crisis mental health services at night. In emergency people were referred to Bradford Royal Infirmary and Airedale General Hospital where they might have to wait a long time to be assessed.

The team, which included CQC inspectors, Mental Health Act commissioners, an analyst, consultant psychiatrists, consultant psychologists, other specialists and four patients by experience, carried out announced visits to all core services between 17 and 19 June 2014. Inspections were undertaken at a number of locations including the two main centres, Lynfield Mount Hospital, Bradford and the Airedale Centre for Mental Health, Steeton.

The inspectors found areas of good practice which included:

• There were several examples of good practice in relation to health screening and facilitation at Waddiloves Health Centre, including, for example, the use of a screening tool that had been developed specifically for people who had Down's syndrome.
• Staff at the memory assessment and treatment service clinic provided excellent person-centred care to people and families who were attending for an assessment and diagnosis of memory impairment. The service was responsive to the needs of local communities and staff showed exceptional skill and sensitivity in the way they communicated with people.
• The looked after children's team continued to support children in full time education until 21 years old, rather than discharge them from the service at the usual age.

Inspectors said that the trust must improve in two areas:

• The trust must ensure that people receive the right care at the right time from the acute medical team. Competing demands on consultants and junior doctors meant that too many appointments were being cancelled, people were not able to see their doctors when they wanted to and doctors were not readily available to respond to urgent needs or emergencies.
• The trust must make sure that the health-based places of safety at Lynfield Mount and Airedale centre for Mental Health Hospitals are safe and fit for purpose. In some areas  risks had not been  fully assessed or reviewed by staff. The places of safety had ligature points which did not meet fundamental standards designed to assure against the risks of unsafe or unsuitable premises.

Doctor Paul Lelliott, Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals said:

"Generally, we have found that Bradford District Care Trust provides a safe and effective mental health, community health and  learning disability services. We saw outstanding care for people receiving end of life care, through a  coordinated and seamless service which understood the different needs of people it served and delivered services to meet those needs, while being flexible enough to fit in with patients and their family's lifestyles.

"While most people's individual needs and wishes were dealt with properly, we heard that there were delays in referrals to community teams for adults, and children and young people and the delays in helping people in need of mental health services in emergency is a particular concern.

"Overall it is clear that the trust is well led with a proactive leadership, although we were told that the recent scale and pace of change has been causing some difficulties for the front line community teams and this will need to be sorted out.

"While we have found plenty of good practice, we have identified a number of areas for improvement. We are sure that the trust will want to tackle those issues as a priority to improve their service for the people who live here."

Ends

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