28.11.16
CQC finds Southern Health 'improved', but further progress still needed
The CQC has published the findings of a new three-day inspection of the troubled Southern Health NHS FT, and has found that the trust has started to make improvements.
The CQC’s report comes after an inspection of the trust in January 2016 raised concerns about the safety of mental health and learning disability patients, leading to it issuing the trust with a warning notice in March.
However, following the three-day visit in September, inspectors have now noted “significant” improvements from the trust in identifying risks potentially affecting patient safety and having clearer processes in place to tackle them.
Dr Paul Lelliott, the CQC’s deputy chief inspector of hospitals and lead for mental health, said: “Southern Health NHS FT has been under intense scrutiny. I am pleased to report that during this inspection we have found signs that the trust’s management team was starting to get to grips with the underlying issues that were putting patients at risk.
“Overall, we have concluded that the trust had taken sufficient action to meet the requirements set out in the warning notice.”
The warning notice was imposed after inspectors found that the trust did not have effective processes to assess and manage self-harm risks on its wards, such as those posed by potential ligature anchor points. The CQC also previously found that the physical environments of some of the trust’s mental health and learning disability units were unsafe.
Following the most recent inspection, the regulator revealed that Southern Health had put work into identifying physical environment risks such as ligature anchor points, falls from heights and the risk of patients absconding, praising more effective relationships between the trust’s estates and clinical teams.
The CQC also found that Southern Health now had clearer processes in place to ensure that it had assessed any actions taken about risks or that it had followed up on actions which had not.
However, it noted that it still had concerns about the physical environment at Elmleigh Hospital. The trust was informed of these at the time so that it could take immediate action.
Dr Lelliott added that the CQC’s findings were promising but that there is still progress to be made by Southern Health.
“The trust leadership has recognised that there is still significant work to do and that the new systems need to be embedded to demonstrate long term improvement,” Lelliott said.
“The trust has assured us that it will continue to working on the outstanding breaches. We will be monitoring the trust’s progress closely – returning to check that the required improvements have been made and are being sustained.”
Southern Health has been plagued by problems in the last year with both its interim chair Tim Smart and former CEO Katrina Percy resigning in recent months. The trust had been embroiled in scandal since allegations arose late last year that it had failed to investigate over 1,000 deaths of mental health and learning disability patients.
(Image c. Peter Facey)
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