England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has found improvements are needed at Bradford District NHS Foundation Trust following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
A team of inspectors visited the mental health trust to check on the quality of nine of its core services in October and November 2017. CQC also looked specifically at management and leadership to answer the key question: Is the trust well led?
As a result of this inspection, the trust’s overall rating has changed from Good to Requires Improvement. In the key questions of whether the trust is providing care that is safe, effective and well led, the trust’s ratings have moved from Good to Requires Improvement. The ratings for whether services are caring and responsive remain as Good.
Inspectors found that although some improvements had been made in community health services, improvements were needed across the trust’s services.
Jenny Wilkes, CQC Head of Inspection for mental health in the North said:
“Inspectors found there had been a deterioration in the quality of patient care on their return to Bradford District NHS Foundation Trust and a number of improvements were needed. That is why the trust’s overall rating is now Requires Improvement whereas previously it was rated as Good."
“We found the trust’s senior leadership team did not have effective oversight of staff training or staff supervision and the trust had not ensured checks for all staff had been carried out through the Disclosure and Barring Service."
“Services were not consistently managing risks, risk assessments were not always completed or reviewed and sickness, vacancy and turnover rates were high. Meanwhile, we found safeguarding concerns were not consistently recognised or reported to external agencies and staff had a mixed understanding of the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act."
“However, inspectors noted staff were kind, compassionate, respectful and supportive to patients, and improvements were seen in community services, with. community end of life care being rated as Outstanding."
“The trust board knows what it must do to now to ensure improvements are made. We will continue to monitor the service and this will include further inspections.”
The areas where inspectors found improvements were needed include:
- That the trust must ensure effective governance systems are in place to assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of its services.
- Checks for director level staff must be carried out in line with the Fit and Proper Person Requirement regulation and the policy completed for all executive and non-executive directors. Accurate records of these must also be maintained.
- The trust must ensure that all staff are checked by the Disclosure and Barring Service, and that serious incidents are reviewed and thoroughly investigated within appropriate timescales with improvements being made as a result.
CQC will return to inspect the trust at a later date to check on progress with the areas highlighted for improvement.
Full details of the ratings, including a ratings grid, are given in the report published on our website.
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