The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report on Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust following an inspection in October.
CQC inspected three core services at the trust including: acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units (PICU), long stay/ rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults, and forensic inpatient secure wards.
This unannounced inspection was carried out to review the progress following conditions imposed on the trust after a previous CQC inspection. At that inspection the trust was told to address ligature risks on all acute wards and to put in place an effective system to improve risk assessments and care planning.
This latest inspection also reviewed progress following a warning notice CQC issued to the trust last January, requiring the trust to make significant improvements regarding ward staffing numbers and to ensure staff had the right training, professional development and access to supervision and appraisal.
Following the October inspection, inspectors found action had been made to reduce the risk of ligature points on the wards which meant the conditions had been met. The trust had also met the requirements of the warning notice as inspectors found staffing levels had improved across the wards and therefore, the warning notice is no longer in place, however inspectors did tell the provider that further improvements were needed.
During the most recent inspection, CQC had concerns about the environment as courtyard areas were unclean and wasn’t a pleasant place for people to spend time in.
As this was a focused inspection, the services were not re-rated and the previous ratings remain in place. The ratings are:
- Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units: It remains rated requires improvement overall and for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led. It remains rated inadequate for being safe
- Long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults: Overall, the service remains rated requires improvement, which is the same for being safe, effective, and well-led. Responsive and caring remain rated good
- Forensic inpatient or secure wards: The service remains rated requires improvement overall, which is the same for being safe, effective, and well-led. Responsive and caring remain rated good.
Amanda Lyndon, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
“When we inspected Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, it was encouraging to see the trust has taken steps to make improvements to meet conditions placed on them, and to meet the areas where improvement was needed within the warning notice. However, further work still needs to be done to provide the safe care people deserve.
“It shows our enforcement action can highlight concerns which need urgent action and in turn supports organisations to drive improvement.”
The overall rating for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust remains rated as requires improvement.