England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as Good following an inspection.
Between 9 October and 16 November 2017, a team of CQC inspectors visited the trust’s acute admission wards, wards for people with a learning disability or autism, community based mental health service of adults of working age, specialist community mental health service for children and young people, and community health services for adults.
The inspection identified good practice across the services but also found some areas for improvement, and the overall rating for the trust has not changed as a result of this inspection.
The trust is rated as Good overall as well as for whether services are caring, effective, responsive and well-led. It is rated as Requires Improvement for whether services are safe.
Deputy Chief Inspector for Hospitals (lead for mental health), Paul Lelliott, said:
“We found a number of areas of good and outstanding practice at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust."
“The inspection highlighted good leadership at the trust. The board understood the challenges the trust faced and made sure that plans were in place to manage those challenges while planning for the future."
“We found that good partnership working continued with other organisations to help plan and meet the needs of people. Stakeholders were positive about the trust and we found that patients were at the centre of the trust culture, which involved them through a range of initiatives. Patients were also positive about their care and treatment."
“Our inspection also highlighted areas for improvement at the trust and the trust was given feedback on those areas following our inspection. The trust board knows what it needs to do to make those improvements and we will return to check on progress at the trust at a later date.”
Inspectors found outstanding practice across the trust including in the eating disorders team where a ‘transitional worker’ role had been developed to support young people in managing their move to adult services. This member of staff worked across both the adult and child eating disorders teams. Relapse prevention and wellness plans were also put in place for patients transitioning or exiting treatment.
The West Community CAMHS team staff produced a monthly report from staff feedback to help the service make improvements. The trust also worked with a regional charity to raise staff awareness of the impact of loneliness on older people, particularly in respect of discharge planning. As a result staff were committed to spotting the need for and supporting greater social engagement.
However inspectors found a number of areas where improvements were needed. This included that the trust needed to ensure medicines remained safe to use when fridge temperatures exceed maximum temperature ranges, that staff checked resuscitation equipment regularly, that staff signed for medicines administered to patients and that the privacy and confidentiality of patients was protected.
The trust must also ensure staff share copies of care plans with patients, that this is demonstrated in their records and that patients admitted to wards have access to psychological therapies.
Full details of the ratings, including a ratings grid, are given in the report published on our website.
Ends
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We found a number of areas of good and outstanding practice at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Paul Lelliott, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and lead for mental health)