- SERVICE PROVIDER
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
This is an organisation that runs the health and social care services we inspect
Assessment report published 3 June 2025
Contents
Ratings - Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units
Our view of the service
Date of assessment: 08 May 2024. Reason for assessment: This was a responsive assessment in response to some concerns we had received as part of our ongoing monitoring of the service. We had received anonymous feedback raising concerns about management of staff within the medical team, poor culture and some staff felt that they were unable to speak up. We looked at seven quality statements during this assessment: learning culture; safe and effective staffing; safe environment; shared direction and culture; capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders; freedom to speak up and learning, improvement and innovation. We visited two acute wards within Dorothy Pattison Hospital. Ambleside is a 21 bedded female acute ward, and Langdale is a 21 bedded male acute ward. We found that the service required improvement as the care was not always provided in a safe manner. On Ambleside ward, the environment required updating. Some areas across both wards were cluttered. The hospital was not smoke free and patients were permitted to smoke in garden areas on both wards. This had led to a build up of large quantities of disposed cigarette ends and litter in the outdoor spaces. On Langdale, room door signs had been removed during the programme of decoration however the these were not fully removed and the backs were still on the wall exposing sharp edges, and plastic parts that could be removed. Staff were not up to date with their mandatory training requirements and several courses across both wards had low compliance rates.