Issue - meetings

The recent inspection report is attached for the Select Committee to read. Officers from the CQC and AWP will attend the meeting and give a brief presentation.

Tony Fletcher, CQC Inspection Manager introduced this report to the Select Committee. He explained that the inspection visit was carried out over a two week period from 16 May to 27 May 2016 and covered a large geographical area and range of services.

He stated that during the inspection we visited 37 wards, four health based places of safety, 28 community teams and spoke with:

• 127 patients

• 22 carers

• Members of the executive team and trust board, including the chief executive and the chair

• Twenty two senior managers

• 93 service and ward managers

• 357 other staff, including registered nurses, health care support workers, doctors, psychologists, occupational therapists and practitioners.

He highlighted three key areas from within the report.

Wards for patients with dementia were not dementia friendly with the exception of ward four in Bath. However, environmental security in the forensic and secure services had improved significantly since our inspection in June 2014 and risk were managed well at both a ward level and individual patient level.

We had serious concerns with the timeliness of Mental Health Act assessments for people detained in the places of safety. Data showed that a significant number of people were in places of safety for over 12 hours waiting for assessment, and many for two or three days. There were eight occasions between March 2015 and April 2016 where people were there beyond the legal limit of 72 hours.

There were also delays in the attendance by the child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) service (provided by another trust) when there was an admission of a young person. One young person was detained under Section 4 of the Mental Health Act due to the lack of availability of a second doctor to undertake an assessment at the place of safety.

He said that they had found that the trust had made some significant improvements to the safety and quality of services, staffing levels and governance arrangements even at the time of inspection.

Councillor Paul May commented that he was pleased to hear the progress being made especially with regard to governance.

Tony Fletcher replied that key appointments had been made by the Director of Nursing. He added that a further inspection would likely take place in 2017 to assess if the changes are working.

Councillor Paul May asked if the inspection assessed whether the services provided were appropriate for the needs of the community.

Tony Fletcher replied that it did not. He said that the inspection assessed the safety of the provision being provided.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson commented that it was good to see a vast improvement of the ligature policy as it had previously been inadequate. She said that there remained a shortage of around 29 acute beds which had seen some patients sent to Salisbury and Harrogate.

Tony Fletcher replied that he had heard evidence of patients being sent a long distance for acute provision.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson urged for better care in the community with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 57