England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has told Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust that it must improve child and adolescent mental health services following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
Overall children’s mental health services have been rated Requires Improvement, although children’s community health services were rated as Good. The trust is still rated as Good overall following their comprehensive inspection.
During the same inspection in June CQC found that the trust had made improvements which had been required in the emergency and urgent services, neonatal services, surgical services, medicine and critical care at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
Read the full report of the inspection and all individual service ratings grids.
Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is one of four dedicated children’s hospital trusts in the UK. It provides integrated healthcare for children and young people from the local population in Sheffield and South Yorkshire, as well as specialised services to children and young people nationally.
The Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:
“In the past we have found the services provided by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to be Good. I am pleased to report that since our last inspection two years ago, we have found further improvement.
“For example, we had asked the trust to ensure that there were always enough staff on duty in the emergency department out of hours, with enough senior doctors in critical care and in general paediatrics. I am satisfied that the trust has addressed these issues – although there is some work still required in developing transition services.
“On this inspection we have found areas for improvement on the child and adolescent mental health wards, where greater care must be taken to manage behaviour properly or to protect them from abuse. On the whole we found health services provided in the community to be Good.
“Following this inspection we have set out our findings including those areas for improvement – and I expect the trust to address these requirements as a priority. We will continue to monitor the trust and we will return in due course to check on progress.”
The inspectors found care and treatment was planned and delivered in line with current guidance and best practice. There was an open culture within the organisation. Incidents were reported and investigated and lessons learned, although there were some concerns about the reporting of restraint in mental health services.
Staff did not always take a proactive approach to safeguarding, particularly in the emergency department and within mental health services.
The trust was in the process of building work to provide new accommodation for some of the wards and outpatients. The aim was to provide an environment to better meet the needs of children, young people and their families.
Within community child and adolescent mental health services, there were not enough staff to meet the requirements of the service. The waiting times from initial referral to actual treatment were too long.
The inspection identifies a number of areas where the trust must make improvements including:
- On child and adolescent mental health wards, the trust must ensure that practices used by staff to manage behaviour such as time out and seclusion are used and recognised correctly.
- The trust must ensure that informal patients are aware of their rights, and any restrictions, and understand these when they consent to their admission and treatment. Staff should not use the threat of detention in order to prevent patients from leaving where this is not a justifiable and required intervention.
- Staff must ensure that incidents involving abuse between patients are referred as safeguarding concerns where necessary. Evidence of safeguarding considerations must be documented accordingly.
The report also identifies areas of outstanding practice including:
- Working in conjunction with NHS England the trust had been successful in securing funding for a pilot scheme linking child and adolescent mental health services with 10 schools.
Ends
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In the past we have found the services provided by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust to be Good. I am pleased to report that since our last inspection two years ago, we have found further improvement.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals