Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust

On this page

• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

This means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

This service scored 45 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Kindness, compassion and dignity

Patients told us that staff did not always treat people with kindness, empathy and compassion. They told us bank staff did not always provide their name or engage with patients. They raised concerns around observations not being carried out correctly, including staff sleeping and using their phones, increasing risk of avoidable harm. They told us that they did not feel safe on the ward due to staff shortages and staff not noticing when patients had harmed themselves. However, some patients spoke highly of permanent staff on the ward.
Staff were able to give examples of personalised care for individual patients, and it was clear they knew their patients well.
A family member told us they felt staff on the ward were unprofessional and had concerns their relative was able to cause harm to themselves whilst on 1:1 observations. However, they spoke highly of the ward doctor, who was positive and supported patients to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition and explains things well.
At the recent Mental Health Act (MHA) review, the advocate for the hospital told us they provided a regular drop-in service. They provided support with section 132 rights and appeals. The advocate told us they were not provided with patients’ risk information before they met them on their own and private meeting space was not always available causing them to have to use patients’ bedrooms.
The service had a weekly chaplaincy visit to fulfil premade and ad-hoc appointments with patients. Religious materials were available at the request of the patient.
Staff said they could raise concerns about disrespectful, discriminatory or abusive behaviour or attitudes towards patients without fear of the consequences. All staff were confident they could speak up and raise concerns with leaders.
 

Treating people as individuals

The service made adjustments for disabled patients – for example, by ensuring disabled people’s access to premises and by meeting patients’ specific communication needs.
Managers ensured staff and patients had easy access to interpreters and/or signers.
Patients had a choice of food to meet the dietary requirements of religious and ethnic groups and to account for allergies and intolerances.
The service was able to demonstrate considerations and actions taken to ensure person centred care was provided to patients with protected characteristics. This included staff supporting patients to obtain items to enable patients to practice their faith.
 

Independence, choice and control

Staff made sure patients could access information on their rights and how to complain. Up to date information about the Mental Health Act, advocacy, the Care Quality Commission and making complaints was displayed on notice boards on the ward. Patients were able to provide feedback to staff during community meetings; however, these were not taking place regularly. One patient told us they had written several complaints but had received no outcome from these.
Patients could make phone calls in private. Staff did not restrict patients access to their mobile telephones or devices.
 

Responding to people’s immediate needs

Patients were not always involved in their care plans and risk assessments and 2 patients we spoke with had never seen their care plan and did not know what was in it. The trust provided care plans after the inspection that evidenced staff were recording patient views, however, this was not evidence that patients were actually involved. Patients and their carers attended ward rounds, but not all felt they were involved in decisions about care, treatment and discharge.
Staff were not always aware of specific risks and did not always care plan for these accordingly. Staff did not ensure that patients’ risk had always been assessed satisfactorily. One patient was recorded as having a health condition that required regular monitoring and medication; however, this was not present in the care plan or risk assessment.
Staff did not ensure that a thorough risk assessment and action plan was completed in relation to a patient who could pose a risk of harm to patients and staff.
Regular community meetings were supposed to take place on the ward; however, staff and patients told us these did not regularly take place.
Staff made sure patients could access advocacy services. Information on how to contact the independent mental health advocacy service was displayed on a notice board.

Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Most staff said the leadership team were approachable, supportive and engaged with staff on the ward. Staff and managers said they found senior managers at the hospital to be supportive.
The provider’s staff sickness rate was between 17.2% and 16.9% throughout the months of October to December 2025.
The service recognised staff success and had a recognition scheme, which included positive feedback from the patients that was displayed on the ward, nurse of the month, staff member of the month, student of the month and staff awards. We also saw an opportunity for a staff member to win afternoon tea at The House of Lords.
Staff told us that morale on the team was low, they were burnt out and there were not enough staff at times to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all patients. They told us they were not always able to assist patients with getting them hot drinks and were unable to support with alarm response due to being on enhanced observations. This increased risk of serious harm to patients and put staff under additional stress when they were the only staff member free to attend alarms.
However, staff we spoke with felt proud of the strong team they had built on the ward. They told us that their work could be demanding but they enjoyed working within mental health. All staff we spoke with were passionate about helping the patients.