Chief Inspector of Hospitals rates Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust as Good

England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust as Good following its latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

The trust has been rated as Good for providing services that were caring, effective, responsive, and well-led and Requires Improvement for safe.

Full reports of the inspection in February 2016, including ratings for all core services are available at: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RXV

Greater Manchester West (GMW) Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust provides community-based and inpatient mental health care and treatment for people living within Salford, Bolton and Trafford. The trust also provides a wide range of more specialised mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the North West of England and beyond.

In acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units, inspectors found some excellent examples of good practice. For example, across all wards CQC found evidence of excellent interagency working. On Medlock ward pregnant patients and new mothers were often supported by midwives and specialists such as breast feeding specialists.

In wards for older people with mental health problems there was a room to provide end of life care for patients. The wards had good links with the local hospice and Macmillan nurses to ensure that patients were looked after in the best possible way in the final weeks of their life.

In long stay/rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults, the care plans at Bramley Street were of a very high standard with evidence of carer involvement. All patients stated that they had been involved in the care plans and contributed to the content, reflecting their needs and wishes.

Dr Paul Lelliott, the Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and CQC lead for mental health), said:

“This is a trust that is providing a good standard of care. My inspectors found staff were caring, professional and worked to support the patients using the services. The trust was supporting patients with their physical health well. People had their health assessed in a comprehensive manner and were being supported to have any health care needs addressed. Staff, patients and carers had access to a wide range of opportunities for learning and development, which was helping improve care.

“The trust had excellent working relationships with external agencies and stakeholders. An example was the work of the community team for older people working to reduce admissions into the acute trust. Patients could access care in their local service when they needed it. Services were designed to be accessible for all patient groups and the trust worked hard to ensure that hard to reach groups were engaged.

“The trust did many things well and we saw good practice across most services. There are some areas where we have asked the trust to focus on, including staff mandatory training. In some wards for older people, accommodation was not always being provided in line with same sex guidance.

“The leadership team recognised the importance of strong engagement with patients, staff and external stakeholders The trust had two services which had been shortlisted for national awards and three services which had received national accreditations. Building on the very firm foundations of this inspection I believe this trust will continue the improve and I look forward to reading their next inspection report”

During the inspection, CQC found some areas of good practice including:

Community-based mental health services for adults of working age:

• Each team we visited had a physical health lead. The physical health leads were assertive in approach, and would visit people in their own home to complete physical health screening and tests. Teams were involved in enabling people with experience of mental health services to be involved in research; the psychosis research unit led the research.

Community-based mental health services for older people:

• There was a multidisciplinary group (MDG) attended by staff from the team. This was a group of professionals from both mental health and physical health backgrounds. The focus of the MDG was to review and problem solve complex cases, provide plans and anticipate care needs for those using health and social care services.

CQC have advised the trust that they must take action in some areas, including:

• In acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units: The trust must ensure that all relevant staff have the necessary training in order to safely perform their roles and protect patient safety. The trust must ensure that equipment and medical supplies are replaced when necessary in order for safe care and treatment to be delivered to patients in an emergency situation.

The Care Quality Commission will present its findings to a local quality summit later this month, including NHS commissioners, providers, regulators and other public bodies. The purpose of the quality summit is to develop a plan of action and recommendations based on the inspection team's findings. We will also be working with the trust to agree an action plan to assist them in improving the standards of care and treatment.

Ends

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