Trust Faces Scrutiny Over Patient Safety and Staff Concerns

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated a healthcare trust's forensic inpatient and secure wards as inadequate following inspections conducted in April and May 2024. The inspection revealed significant concerns regarding patient safety and staff pressures. The findings have raised alarms about the trust's ability to provide a safe environment for patients, with issues such as ligature risks, unsafe medicine management, and staff being overburdened with tasks like continuous observations without breaks.

The CQC inspection uncovered that some staff felt unable to voice their concerns due to a prevailing culture of suppressing bad news. Alison Chilton of the CQC emphasized the need for improvement, highlighting that "the trust's processes didn't always ensure the environment was safe for people." Additionally, the inspection found that security checks on some wards were incomplete, with gaps and missing signatures. Chilton noted the imposition of blanket restrictions without sufficient evidence or review.

The situation at the Edenfield Centre, one of the trust's facilities, has drawn particular attention. A BBC Panorama investigation exposed instances of patient humiliation and bullying. In response to this exposé, several staff members were dismissed. An independent report led by Professor Oliver Shanley OBE criticized the trust for repeatedly missing opportunities to address these issues.

The trust has acknowledged the findings of the independent report and has committed to working swiftly to rectify the identified problems. Salli Midgley, a representative of the trust, stated, "We will always be sorry for the failings in the past but under the Trust's new leadership we are focussed on getting the fundamentals of care right every time for our service users, their families and carers."

Despite these efforts, the trust expressed disappointment over the delayed publication of the CQC report. The findings have prompted a reassessment of procedures and an examination of the trust's culture to improve transparency and safety.