26 July 2013
During a routine inspection
One member of staff said 'we provide good care with a good ethos, patient centred and involve patients in their care at all times'. Relatives also said 'they do the best they can and looked after X well, although I feel there should be more involvement with us carers on a regular basis' and also '...if I have any concerns, I phone up straight away, the staff are very nice'.
Patients said there were 'not enough opportunities for activities' and they would 'like a regular weekly outing'. Patients said that 'some staff are OK and some staff wind you up'. However, they did say that if they had any worries or concerns they would tell the staff. They also said they felt as though they 'were treated with respect and dignity when time allowed'.
As part of this inspection, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) liaised with other statutory bodies to identify an overall view of how the trust was performing and any areas of concern. Contact was made with Healthwatch England, NHS England and Monitor, and their views were taken into account in arriving at the judgements on compliance.
No specific areas of concern affecting this inspection were received from local Healthwatch England, the independent consumer champion for health and social care.
Monitor has the responsibility for ensuring foundation trusts, such as Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, are well led in terms of quality and finance. CQC received confirmation that apart from one recently received concern, Monitor had no other significant concerns regarding the trust. The issues raised by the specific concern were looked at during this inspection and are the subject of ongoing review by CQC.
NHS England has the responsibility for commissioning services and ensuring the provision of high quality services. The Cumbria, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Area Team had the view that the trust is providing good care but had some questions about specific services and broader issues such as restraint policy. CQC was made aware that these, as well as quality and workforce issues, restraint and specific serious untoward incidents, will be discussed with the trust through a meeting of the Quality Review Group in September 2013. These issues are subject to ongoing monitoring by CQC and have been taken into account in the judgements made in this report.