A team of CQC inspectors visited Southern Health in June and July 2018 to check 10 mental health services and five of its community services. Inspectors 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 remains rated as Requires Improvement overall. However, Inspectors rated the trust as Good for the key questions: Are services caring and responsive and Requires Improvement for safety and effectiveness. Inspectors also rated the trust Requires Improvement for the key question: Is the trust well-led.
Long stay and rehabilitation wards for adults of working age and wards for people with a learning disability or autism, originally rated as Requires Improvement, have been rated as outstanding overall.
Immediately after the inspection CQC issued a Warning Notice due to concerns about the safety of young people on the child and adolescent mental health wards. Inspectors found at times there were not always enough staff on Bluebird House to ensure young people were protected from harm. This had resulted in observations not being carried out as needed and some young people missing trips into the community. Ligature reduction work undertaken at Leigh House did not go far enough to ensure that young people were protected from the risk of harm.
Inspectors returned to carry out an unannounced inspection on 18 July and found the trust had addressed all of the actions required by the Warning Notice.
However, CQC found that safer staffing levels were not always being met across all services despite the trust’s best efforts to address this, leaving staff and patients unsupported.
There was a positive, strong senior leadership team with the capability to build on improvements that had been made over the last 18 months. The board was relatively new, including a new chief executive officer. There was now a wide range of experience and expertise there were examples of positive leadership throughout the organisation.
Within community health services patients were treated by staff with kindness, dignity and respect while they received care and treatment including physical or intimate care. Inspectors also observed staff demonstrating an encouraging, sensitive and supportive attitude to patients and those close to them who used the services.
Karen Bennett-Wilson, Head of Hospital Inspection in the South (and lead for mental health) said:
“It is encouraging to see the improvements that Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust have made, although there is still more to do – especially where we found there were not enough staff to meet patients’ needs.
“Overall we believe that the trust has made significant improvements. The new leadership team has a clear vision and strategy. Staff morale has improved with teams reporting a significant change in the culture and a greater sense of optimism than we have seen in the past. Frontline staff that we met felt positive and proud of their work and felt the trust was heading in the right direction.
“We will continue to monitor further developments and return in due course to report on further progress."
The full report is available at www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RW1
Ends
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