Following the Care Quality Commission (CQC) well-led and core service inspections during October and November, our final report has been published and we have maintained our rating of 'Good' overall – for the third consecutive time.
We are now rated 'Good' across all five domains of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. This includes an uplift from 'Requires improvement' for responsive.
The report includes an overall summary of findings across the Trust and reports for each of the five core services inspected:
- ​Forensic inpatient / secure services, Mental health crisis services and health-based places of safety
- Specialist community mental health services for children and young people
- Wards for older people with mental health problems
- Wards for people with learning disabilities or autism
- Effective leadership across the organisation
- Clear vision, values and behaviours at the heart of all work within the organisation
- Clear five-year plan to provide high-quality care and financial stability
- Values-based culture which is positive and open
- Effective governance structures, systems and processes
- Systems in place to identify learning from incidents, complaints and safeguarding alerts and make improvements
- Enough nursing staff, who know patients and receive training to keep them safe
- Wards safe, clean, well-equipped, well furnished, well maintained and fit for purpose
- Staff assess the physical and mental health of all patients
- Staff support patients to make decisions on their care themselves
- All services treat patients with compassion and kindness
- Involve patients in care planning and actively seek their feedback on the quality of care
- Staff felt respected, supported and valued
- Mental Health Act administration and compliance
- Strong focus on quality
- Digital improvements and access to information - high-quality clinical records
Improvements have been recognised in a number of areas, particularly our older people's wards, with Kingsley Ward singled out for two areas of outstanding practice.
Some areas for improvement have also been identified which we are now focusing on addressing.
Our wards for people with a learning disability or autism remain as 'Requires improvement' overall and our mental health crisis services and health-based places of safety have also been rated as 'Requires improvement' overall.
It is important to remember the CQC process is about identifying where improvements can be made and working together to make them happen. We have action plans in place and have already begun addressing the 12 'must do' and 26 'should do' requirements. We will update the CQC on our progress during our monthly engagement meetings.
The summaries for mental health services and community services, as well as the overall Trust ratings, now look like this:
