09.12.16
CQC rates major GM foundation trust as ‘requires improvement’
Pennine Care NHS FT has been rated as requires improvement following an inspection by the CQC.
The trust, which provides mental health, community and specialist services to around 1.3 million patients across Greater Manchester, was found by the inspectorate to be insufficiently safe, effective and well-led.
However, its child and adolescent mental health wards were rated as ‘outstanding’ and the trust was rated as ‘good’ at being caring and responsive.
The CQC’s deputy chief inspector of hospitals and mental health lead, Dr Paul Lelliot, said the body rates six out of 16 services as ‘requires improvement’, adding: “We were concerned that guidance on same sex accommodation was breached in a number of wards. We found concerns with the levels of training. Staff were not following the trust’s own policies to manage medicines in a number of services and we also found restrictions on patients’ liberty which had not been properly addressed.
“I note that across the trust bed occupancy has been very high and this has meant a number of patients having to be admitted to units out of the area.”
But despite these concerns, inspectors found that staff were respectful, caring and professional, with the trust’s multi-disciplinary staff teams working well both internally and with external agencies.
“Following this inspection, the trust has told us it is taking action to improve its services, and our inspectors will return in due course to check that the improvements we require have been made,” Lelliot added.
Michael McCourt, chief executive of the foundation trust, took heart from the positive aspects of the report, saying: “Clearly the trust would always aspire to achieve outstanding or good for the care it provides and this was achieved by the vast majority of services inspected.
“However, there are a number of services that were rated as requires improvement and we will take the issues raised seriously and act swiftly to make changes. This is a reflection of the immense challenges we continue to face in providing complex care to the most vulnerable of people and we need to work together with our patients, partners and commissioners to make demonstrable improvements.”
Areas for improvement that the CQC identified included making sure that patient areas are clean and in “good decorative order”; ensuring patients are cared for in single sex accommodation, including bathroom access; making sure that each patient is assessed comprehensively and ensuring that the service can provide sufficient palliative care staff.
Pennine Care was formed in 2002 and provides services from 263 sites across Greater Manchester, employing more than 5,500 staff.
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