03.10.18
CQC finds troubled Southern Health trust still ‘requires improvement’ after patient deaths scandal
The CQC has found that, after inspections in June and July this year at 10 mental health services and five community services, Southern Health NHS FT remains as ‘requires improvement’ overall.
Southern Health was fined £2m back in March for the “entirely preventable” deaths of 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk, who died in the trust’s care in 2013; and Teresa Colvin, who died in Woodhaven Adult Mental Health Hospital at Calmore, Hampshire in 2012.
The CQC issued a Warning Notice immediately after the inspection due to concerns about the safety of young people on the child and adolescent mental health wards.
Inspectors found that there were not always enough staff on duty at Bluebird House to ensure young people were protected from harm, observations were not being carried out as needed, and ligature reduction work at Leigh House didn’t go far enough to protect young people.
The inspectors returned to carry out an unannounced inspection on 18 July and said the trust had addressed all the actions required by the warning notice.
However, they still found that safer staffing levels were not always being met across all services despite the trust’s best efforts, leaving staff and patients unsupported.
Conor Sparrowhawk, who was epileptic and had autism, died in the trust’s care in 2013 at residential care unit Slade House in what prosecuting lawyer Mr Justice Stuart-Smith described as an “unnecessary human tragedy.”
Southern Health admitted guilt for Sparrowhawk’s death in September last year, and the trust’s CEO Nick Broughton fully accepted the trust’s failings, and said the deaths were “entirely preventable.”
In a separate incident, Teresa Colvin died at a mental health facility in Hampshire in 2012 with the trust pleading guilting in court, admitting it had failed the patient.
The CQC has said that there was a positive, strong senior leadership team with the ability to build on improvements in place at the trust.
Karen Bennett-Wilson, head of hospital inspection in the south said: “It is encouraging to see the improvements that Southern Health NHS FT have made, although there is still more to do – especially where we found there were not enough staff to meet patients’ needs.
“Overall we believe that the trust has made significant improvements. The new leadership team has a clear vision and strategy.”
She added: “Staff morale has improved with teams reporting a significant change in the culture and a greater sense of optimism than we have seen in the past.
“Frontline staff that we met felt positive and proud of their work and felt the trust was heading in the right direction.”
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