The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated three services at Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust as requires improvement following an inspection in July and August.
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust provides a range of mental health and learning disability services for people of all ages across Coventry and Warwickshire.
This inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services. Inspectors visited the following services: community mental health services for people with a learning disability or autism, long stay/rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults and acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units.
Following the inspection, the services were rated:
- Community mental health services for people with a learning disability or autism: the service is rated requires improvement overall, and for being safe, effective, responsive, and well-led. Caring is rated as good. The service was previously rated good overall, and for being caring, well-led, effective, and safe. Responsive was rated requires improvement.
- Long stay/rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults: the service is rated requires improvement overall and for being effective and well-led. Caring, responsive and safe are rated as good. The service was previously rated good overall and for being caring, effective, well-led and safe. Responsive was rated requires improvement.
- Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units: the service is rated requires improvement overall and for being safe and well-led. Effective, caring, and responsive are rated as good. The service was previously rated requires improvement overall and for being safe, well-led, and effective. Caring and responsive were rated good.
The overall rating for the trust remains as good, as well as for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led. Safe remains rated requires improvement.
Amanda Lyndon, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
"When we inspected Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust, we found a hardworking and caring workforce with staff who were always kind and respectful to people. However, there were areas where leaders need to make improvements to ensure people continue to receive timely, safe, and appropriate care.
“For example, staff raised concerns about long term staff absences causing increased waiting times for people requiring physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Two people had been waiting for urgent physiotherapy for over three months.
"We were also concerned that the service wasn’t managing restricted items which could cause harm safely. There was an incident where someone using the service had access to a lighter which was a potential fire risk on the ward. There needs to be a robust checking system in place so dangerous items can’t be accessed by people.
“It was positive, however, that staff planned and managed discharge well and liaised effectively with services that would provide aftercare. As a result, discharge was rarely delayed meaning people could return home as quickly as possible.
“We also received very complimentary feedback from people using the service with everyone saying they were happy and had no complaints about the care received.
“We’ll continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to make sure the required improvements have been made and people are receiving the safe care they deserve. We won’t hesitate to take action if we find this isn’t happening.”
Inspectors found:
- Staff didn’t keep up to date and accurate care records for all people using community mental health services for people with a learning disability or autism
- Safeguarding alerts weren’t being responded to in line with trust policy at the acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units
- There were no systems in place to monitor, develop and train the locum doctors that were employed for extended periods of time
- Managers didn’t ensure staff on Hazelwood ward received regular supervision and appraisals.
However:
- Services managed safety incidents well and managers investigated incidents and shared lessons learned with all staff
- Overall, services had a positive culture and were keen to improve
- Ward environments were visibly safe and clean
- People and those important to them were actively involved in planning their care.