28.07.17
CQC: Southern Health still failing to learn from serious incidents
Inspectors have warned the troubled Southern Health trust that although some progress is being made to improve care, urgent work is still needed to bring it up to standards.
The CQC today published a report into care at the trust that found that it was not always undertaking effective investigations and was still not learning from serious incidents.
Inspections carried out in March this year looked at how the trust was carrying out investigations and how it responded and monitored complaints made to providers.
It comes after Southern Health was blamed for “multiple systematic and induvial failures” that are said to have led to the death of 18 year old Connor Sparrowhawk in 2013.
And just weeks ago, Southern Health pleaded guilty to not providing safe care to patients after a man was seriously injured falling from the roof of one of its buildings.
However, the CQC did recognise that some progress had been made by trust leads. Improvements were found in the timeliness and quality of investigation reports after serious incidents, including deaths, and there was also a better focus on ensuring that specific actions – produced in response to CQC reports – were being implemented and effectively monitored.
“It is good to see the improvements that Southern Health NHS FT have made but there is still much to do,” said Paul Lelliott, deputy chief inspector of Hospitals (and lead for mental health).
“However, some patients and families did express concerns that things hadn’t changed enough and they would like to see swifter action with more effective communications when things go wrong.”
Lelliott did note, however, that the majority of staff believed that the interim chair and interim CEO were making a positive difference in changing the culture at the trust.
“Overall, we believe that the trust has made some improvements,” he concluded. “The interim chair and chief executive had a clear vision and understanding of what was required to bring about further improvements and were committed to ensuring that improvement was made in a timely manner.
“The trust is certainly moving in the right direction and we hope this progress will continue under the new leadership team.”
Julie Dawes, interim chief executive at the trust, said that she welcomed the findings, stating: “We are not complacent and fully accept that we have more work to do. We have clear plans in place to improve each area that the CQC has highlighted.
“The trust board has also recently appointed a new substantive chair, new non-executive directors, and is in the process of appointing a substantive chief executive. This fresh and strengthened board will bring the leadership required to build on the progress described in the CQC’s findings today.”
At the end of 2016, the CQC had published a separate report as a result of a three-day inspection at the FT which similarly found that while improvements were promising, further progress was still needed.
Top Image: Peter Facey
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