- SERVICE PROVIDER
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
This is an organisation that runs the health and social care services we inspect
Assessment report published 3 November 2026
Contents
Ratings - Community mental health services for people with a learning disability or autism
Our view of the service
Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT) provides community health services for people with a learning disability or autism across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Norfolk. The community teams are based across 16 locations and provide specialist healthcare to adults with learning disabilities whose needs cannot be met by mainstream services alone. Staff support people with learning disabilities to ensure they receive high quality care and treatment when there is a concern about their mental or physical health. In Essex, staff work in partnership with Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT). The partnership was formed in 2017 and is responsible for all NHS community and inpatient learning disability services across Essex. The partnership is led by HPFT.
Within the community teams, intensive support staff work with people who have severe and complex needs and who may be in crisis and need a higher level of support. They help people to remain in the community and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions by providing a rapid response and focused assessment and intervention. Staff from community learning disability forensic services provide specialist support to people who have offended or are at risk of doing so.
HPFT is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following regulated activities:
• Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
We carried out an inspection of HPFT Community Services for People with Learning Disabilities or Autism on 11,12 and 13 August 2026. We inspected the service due to an aged rating and visited 6 locations. This service was last inspected in April 2015. At that inspection, the service was rated as good, and we found no breaches of the Health and Social Care Act regulations (2008).
We have assessed the service against ‘right support, right care, and right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to healthcare that most people take for granted. The service demonstrated how they met the principles of ‘right support, right care, right culture’. People received person-centred care that promoted their dignity, privacy and human rights. People were treated as individuals and high quality care was provided flexibly in line with their preferences. There was minimal use of bank or agency staff, and staff knew the people they cared for and their needs very well. Leaders and staff demonstrated a passion for supporting people, and advocating for their needs, which shaped the culture across the service.
Our rating improved. We rated the service as outstanding. We found no breaches of regulations.
Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act Compliance Summary
Staff received and kept up-to-date with training on the Mental Health Act and the Mental Health Act Code of Practice and could describe the Code of Practice guiding principles.
Staff supported people to make decisions on their care for themselves. They understood the trust policy on the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and assessed and recorded capacity clearly for people who might have impaired mental capacity.
People's experience of this service
The people receiving care and treatment from this service had learning disabilities and/or autism. Some people had communication challenges which meant they could not tell us their views about their care. We spent time observing staff undertaking appointments and home visits to understand peoples’ experiences and spoke with family members and carers to get their views. We saw that staff knew people very well, including their strengths and limitations and offered them choices. We observed kind and caring interactions with people being treated with dignity and respect.
We spoke with 10 family members of people using the service. They were, without exception, extremely positive about the service. People described the service as ‘exceptional’; ‘amazing’; ‘fantastic’ ‘excellent’ ‘like gold dust’ and ‘the best professional support he has ever received’. People were highly complimentary about the staff. For example, ‘Staff are brilliant, gorgeous, amazing…they shine a light for us to follow’. ‘I was exhausted...then I was provided support by the community team and they were absolutely fantastic. My needs were considered too. They’ve been amazing, they picked us up and took care of us.’ Two people said, ‘I don’t know what I would do without them’.
Family members also commented positively on the multi-disciplinary approach, for example 1 person told us about their daughter’s care, ‘It’s life changing because of the investment they put into her..she never could have a blood test..the nurse went to great lengths to introduce her to tolerating this …psychology are producing a positive behaviour plan and psychiatry will be involved soon, each person jigsaws us to the next one’. Another person said, ‘I know they come separately but they go back to team meetings to discuss collectively what support is needed, it’s an amazing service; I cannot thank them enough’.