The Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust as Good overall after the latest focused inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
A team of inspectors, including specialist advisors and experts by experience had visited the trust during March 2016 as part of its programme of inspections of all NHS mental health trusts, rating the trust as Requires Improvement overall. However, after a subsequent inspection during September 2016 inspectors found significant improvements.
The trust is now rated Good for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led. It is rated Requires Improvement for being safe.
South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust provides services to a population of over 1.1 million people. It also provides a number of specialist services used by people from across the UK.
In March CQC rated seven of the core services as Good. Now another core service - community based mental health services for older people - has been upgraded to Good as well.
In addition CQC carried out a ‘well-led’ review and found that the trust had continued to strengthen its senior leadership team and refine governance processes.
Paul Lelliott, the Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals and CQC’s lead for mental health, said: “I am very pleased with the significant improvements achieved at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, which means people that use the trust’s services, will be getting better quality care.
“There is much for the trust to be proud of. The senior executive team are committed to improving services and providing a high standard of care for patients. We have changed the rating for community mental health teams for older people from Requires Improvement to Good. This is because the service had addressed the problems concerning how they manage and transport medicines that we identified during the March 2016 inspection. They have also made sure that their administrative systems are working well and important letters are reaching GPs and patients in a timely manner.
“We also carried out a ‘well led’ review and found that the trust had continued to strengthen its senior leadership team and refine the trust governance processes.”
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There is much for the trust to be proud of.
Paul Lelliott, Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals and lead for mental health