England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the services provided by North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as Good overall following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
CQC inspectors conducted a comprehensive inspection of the trust between 30 May and 11 July, looking specifically at:
- Wards for older people with mental health problems,
- Wards for people with learning disabilities or autism,
- Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units,
- Child and adolescent mental health wards,
- Community based mental health services for adults of working age,
- Community health services for adults.
Inspectors also reviewed the management and leadership of the trust to answer the question: Is the trust well-led?
Full details of the ratings, including a ratings grid ( pages 14 to 16), are given in the report published online at: hwww.cqc.org.uk/provider/rtv
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector, and lead on Mental Health, Dr Paul Lelliott, said:
“Since our previous inspection in 2016, there has been a significant change in the structure of the trust and expansion to its services. It is therefore pleasing to see that the improvements we had seen being maintained.
“In general, we found the trust leadership to be strong. Inspectors noted that the prevailing culture across the trust was to put patients at the centre. Staff recognised this was a top priority which was reflected in the staff survey results.
“We did find a deterioration in some services and, in particular, in the wards for older people with mental health problems and wards for people with learning disabilities or autism. Also, the waiting time for patients to access some community based services was too long.
“The trust has already started work to introduce better systems of governance to address some of our concerns. It is particularly important that the trust takes action to improve patient safety on the wards for older people.
“We will continue to monitor the progress of North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and return to check on its progress at a later date.”
Community health services for adults remained rated as Good overall. The service prioritised patient protection, with defined systems, and procedures to keep people safe from abuse.
In mental health services the overall ratings of two of the five services inspected have gone down. Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units were rated Good for safe, reflecting improvements to ensure patient safety.
Wards for older people with mental health problems have been rated Inadequate because inspectors were concerned that there were not enough staff present on the wards, and therefore unable to intervene safely if incidents arose. There was further concern that male and female patients had not been separated on Kingsley and Parsonage wards, in line with NHS guidance, and inspectors saw patients going into other patients’ rooms unchecked.
The overall rating for wards for people with a learning disability or autism went down to Requires Improvement. Inspectors found that there was an inconsistent approach to reducing the number of restraints and seclusions. Staff sometimes did not use proactive methods to de-escalate challenging behaviour. Some interventions were going unrecorded and therefore were not reviewed to learn from.
However, action was underway to address the inspection team findings of the service. There was experienced, well trained and supported staff on the wards, and staffing numbers were reviewed and appropriately adjusted daily. Patients had access to a variety of facilities and activities while in the service, and supported to be engaged within the local community.
Community-based mental health services for adults of working age maintained its Good overall rating despite concerns about the waiting times for some services.
Child and adolescent mental health wards maintained the previous Good rating.
Ends
For further information please contact CQC Regional Engagement Officer Mark Humphreys mark.humphreys@cqc.org.uk 0191 2011675.
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