The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report on wards for older people with mental health problems, run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust following an inspection in November last year.
The inspection was carried out after receiving information of concern from whistleblowers and people using the service.
The trust provides specialist mental health services across Bury, Rochdale, Oldham, Tameside, and Stockport with premises at Fairfield Hospital, Stepping Hill Hospital, Tameside General Hospital, the Royal Oldham Hospital, and Birch Hill Hospital.
Inspectors found that care plans did not always show how care was centred on the individual or that the views of carers or relatives had been taken into account.
Some relatives and carers fed back that visiting times were restricted, and they were only allowed an hour with their relative.
Inspectors also found that It was not clear that people who were not detained under the Mental Health Act could leave the wards freely. People did not always have a clear understanding of their rights.
They also found that there was no quality assurance process to check whether compliance with the Mental Health Act was taking place for people.
Following this inspection, CQC issued a warning notice to focus the trust’s attention on making specific improvements to ensure care was person, as well as providing enough staff with the right skills and training to meet people’s needs.
CQC also found breaches (which were not part of the warning notice) to regulations related to consent to care and treatment, and people’s safety.
CQC told the trust to submit a plan showing what action it is taking in response to these concerns. This has been provided, and CQC will continue to monitor the trust to ensure these improvements are made and people are safe while it happens.
The overall rating for the trust’s wards for older people with mental health problems has dropped from good to requires improvement overall. The service also dropped from good to requires improvement for how well-led, effective, caring and responsive it is. Being safe has been re-rated as requires improvement.
Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust remains rated requires improvement overall.
Alison Chilton, CQC deputy director of operations in the north west, said:
“We found at our inspection of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust’s wards for older people with mental health problems, that some of the concerns we had received about the safety and quality of the service were substantiated.
“We would like to thank people using the service, and staff for their bravery in sharing their concerns, as it helped us to have a better picture of the care being provided to people, which determines if we need to take any action to keep people safe, including carrying out an inspection.
“On the wards we found there were times when there wasn’t enough permanent staff, and sometimes people were cared for by staff who weren’t familiar to them, particularly at night. Also, staff didn’t always have time to sit down and talk to people and give them the social interaction they need.
“It was also concerning that staff weren’t always trained to provide care to people in a safe way. For example, many staff caring for people with dementia hadn’t received any dementia awareness training.
“However, despite these issues, people and their relatives felt that wards were clean and well maintained which helped to keep them or their loved ones safe.
“We shared our findings with the trust, so they know where improvements are needed, and since the inspection, they have informed us that they have started to make progress on these. We will continue to monitor the service closely, including through future inspections, to ensure people are safe.”
