Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust is to be inspected under the radical changes introduced by the Care Quality Commission. The formal inspection by a team including clinical experts and people who have experience of using mental health services, will start on Monday 19 January.
Over the course of a week, the inspection team will be visiting hospital wards managed by the trust, as well as many of the trusts community services.
The Chief Inspector, Professor Sir Mike Richards, announced in November that CQC is taking a new approach to put a greater emphasis on inspecting the care that people with mental health problems receive in the community at the same time as inspecting services for people who are admitted to hospital for assessment or treatment.
To ensure the views of the whole local community are properly represented, the inspectors are appealing to people to contact CQC either by telephone, email or online.
Sir Mike said:
"The new inspections are designed to provide us with a clear picture of the quality of the services, exposing poor or mediocre care as well as highlighting those trusts providing good and excellent care.
"The needs of people with mental health problems run through all CQC’s work. We have recognised that we need to strengthen our approach to regulating specialist mental health services to ensure that people get care that is safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well led.
"Of course we will be talking to doctors and nurses, managers and people who use services in hospitals and in the community. But it is vital that we also hear the views of the people who have had experience of the care provided by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, or anyone who wants to share information with us, to help us plan our inspection, and so focus on those things that really matter to people who depend on this service.
“This is your opportunity to tell me and my team what you think, and to make a difference to the NHS services in this area”
Anyone who wishes to give their views to the inspection team can do this in a number of ways:
- Online: http://www.cqc.org.uk/syeteeseskwear
- By letter: CQC, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA
- By phone: 03000 61 61 61
Sir Mike’s inspection team will look in detail at a full range of services including acute admission wards for people of working age, psychiatric intensive care units and health-based places of safety, forensic secure services, services for older people, rehabilitation and long stay services, inpatient wards for people with a learning disability or autism, community services for people with learning disabilities or autism, adult community-based services including crisis services, and children and adolescent services both inpatient and community. In addition we will be looking at the trusts substance misuse services and its adult social care locations.
A full report of the inspectors’ findings will be published by the Care Quality Commission.
Ends
For media enquiries, contact Mark Humphreys 01912333519 or the CQC press office on 020 7448 9401 / media.team@cqc.org.uk during office hours or out of hours on 07789 876508.
For general enquiries, call 03000 61 61 61.
Find out more
Read reports from our checks on the standards at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.