England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals has rated Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust as Good following its latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission.
The trust has been rated as Good for providing services that were caring, effective, responsive, and well-led and Requires Improvement for safe.
Full reports of the inspection in February 2016, including ratings for all core services are available at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RXV
Greater Manchester West (GMW) Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust provides community-based and inpatient mental health care and treatment for people living within Salford, Bolton and Trafford. The trust also provides a wide range of more specialised mental health and substance misuse services across Greater Manchester, the North West of England and beyond.
Dr Paul Lelliott, the Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and CQC lead for mental health), said:
“This is a trust that is providing a good standard of care. Our inspectors found staff were caring, professional and worked to support the patients using the services. The trust was supporting patients with their physical health well. People had their health assessed in a comprehensive manner and were being supported to have any health care needs addressed. Staff, patients and carers had access to a wide range of opportunities for learning and development, which was helping improve care.”
“The trust had excellent working relationships with external agencies and stakeholders. An example was the work of the community team for older people working to reduce admissions into the acute trust. Patients could access care in their local service when they needed it. Services were designed to be accessible for all patient groups and the trust worked hard to ensure that hard to reach groups were engaged.”
“The trust did many things well and we saw good practice across most services. There are some areas where we have asked the trust to focus on, including staff mandatory training. In some wards for older people, accommodation was not always being provided in line with same sex guidance.”
“The leadership team recognised the importance of strong engagement with patients, staff and external stakeholders The trust had two services which had been shortlisted for national awards and three services which had received national accreditations. Building on the very firm foundations of this inspection I believe this trust will continue the improve and I look forward to reading their next inspection report.”
During the inspection, CQC found some areas of good practice including:
Community-based mental health services for adults of working age:
* Each team visited had a physical health lead. The physical health leads were assertive in approach, and would visit people in their own home to complete physical health screening and tests. Teams were involved in enabling people with experience of mental health services to be involved in research; the psychosis research unit led the research.
Community-based mental health services for older people:
* There was a multidisciplinary group (MDG) attended by staff from the team. This was a group of professionals from both mental health and physical health backgrounds. The focus of the MDG was to review and problem solve complex cases, provide plans and anticipate care needs for those using health and social care services.
CQC have advised the trust that they must take action in some areas, including:
* In acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units: The trust must ensure that all relevant staff have the necessary training in order to safely perform their roles and protect patient safety. The trust must ensure that equipment and medical supplies are replaced when necessary in order for safe care and treatment to be delivered to patients in an emergency situation.
Bev Humphrey, Chief Executive of GMW said:
“We are delighted that the CQC has rated our Trust as ‘good’. The inspection process was robust and challenging – as it should be – and we are pleased that the rating reflects the commitment we hold to offer the best mental health care and support possible.
“It was excellent to see that the CQC described our staff as ‘kind, caring, professional and non-judgemental’ and that they treated service users with dignity and respect. These are fundamental aspects of care and it is great to have it confirmed by the CQC that we are getting it right.
“The CQC did highlight areas for improvement, which I am pleased to say were acted upon very quickly and thoroughly. These include more accurate and consistent recording of mandatory training and some minor environmental improvements in one of our older people’s services.
“On behalf of the Trust Board, I would like to extend our thanks to our remarkable staff who work so hard to make GMW an organisation to be proud of.”
