England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated the services provided by Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust as Good following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in November.
Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust provides a range of inpatient and community mental health services to around 560,000 patients across Walsall and Dudley.
The trust was previously inspected in February 2016 when it was rated as Requires Improvement overall. Inspectors found considerable improvements had been made at the latest inspection where the care was rated as Good overall.
Inspectors rated the care provided by staff to be Good regarding whether services were safe, caring, responsive and well-led and rated it as Requires Improvement regarding whether services were effective.
Full reports are available on our website.
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and lead for mental health), Dr Paul Lelliott, said:
“Overall, Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust provides good care to the population that it serves. The trust can be proud of the services it manages."
“Since our previous inspection in February 2016, the trust has made significant improvements to the quality of care provided to patients."
“We carried out a review on the leadership of the trust and found that senior management had continued to develop a new positive culture of leadership. Staff morale was good across most services and staff reported that managers supported them to carry out their roles effectively."
“Inspectors observed improvements across the trust as a whole. For example, since our last inspection, the trust had reduced the specialist community services for children and young people’s waiting lists. Although waiting lists existed, teams had made significant reductions."
“The trust demonstrated a degree of progress in its governance and monitoring of staff supervision, appraisal and mandatory training since the previous inspection. Safeguarding processes were robust and involved a good level of staff training. Trust policies were all in place and in date relating to safeguarding and raising concerns."
“Staff throughout the trust displayed a caring attitude towards people who used services. We saw several examples of staff showing kindness, empathy and putting peoples’ needs first. Feedback from patients, carers and families was also very positive and staff ensured that delivery of care was carried out in a co-productive manner."
“There were, however, some areas where improvements were needed. The trust has told us they have listened to our inspectors’ findings and we are confident that the executive team, with the support of their staff, will work to deliver these improvements on behalf of all of their patients. We will return in due course to check on the progress that they have made.”
The reports highlight several areas of good practice, including:
- The trust’s chief executive recognises and praises staff for innovation and excellence in service delivery including services being nominated for national and local awards.
- Wards for older people with mental health problems had staff undertaking risk-based observations ensured these were beneficial, rather than intrusive, for patients. They did this by engaging patients in positive interactions and activities, based on a good understanding of their needs and wishes.
- Clinical Commissioning Groups recognised the trust’s strategy review on falls as an area of good practice. The work undertaken was proactive and innovative. Trust management had also shared this with acute trusts in the area as a means to share good practice.
Inspectors said that the trust must improve in some areas, including:
- The provider must ensure that emergency equipment and medicines are checked consistently and managed in line with the recommendations of the Resuscitation Council.
- All risk assessments must be present, up-to-date and regularly reviewed for all patients. The risk assessments must be detailed enough to capture all risks and have clearly state how staff should manage the risks identified.
- All care plans must be up-to-date, detailed, holistic, person-centred and recovery-focused.
- The provider must ensure that staff follow the trust’s rapid tranquillisation policy by carrying out physical health observations and completing the monitoring forms after the administration of rapid tranquillisation.
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Since our previous inspection in February 2016, the trust has made significant improvements to the quality of care provided to patients
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and lead for mental health), Dr Paul Lelliott