Local health provider receives ‘good’ rating

Lancashire’s Health and Wellbeing provider has received a rating of good from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after a full comprehensive inspection in September 2016.

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust has been rated ‘good’ by the CQC, which has also acknowledged the progress and improvements that have been made since our first inspection when we were assigned a rating of ‘requires improvement.’

An 80-strong inspection team spent a week at the Trust in September and visited services across the full range of our provision (community and mental health) at locations across the county. They amalgamated their findings into 13 service level inspection reports and one overarching report. 11 of the 13 inspection reports were assigned a rating of good overall, with 6 of these getting a rating of good across all domains:

• Forensic inpatient wards
• Wards for older people with mental health problems
• Community based mental health services for older people
• CAMHS Tier 4 (The Junction and The Platform)
• Mental health crisis services and places of safety
• Community sexual health services
• A rating of good was given to mental health services overall

Heather Tierney Moore, Chief Executive at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said:

This is a fantastic achievement and is solely down to the hard work and effort that the Trust has put into making improvements following the first initial inspection. Our staff provide the best possible experience to the people that use our services. There are a number of times when the reports refer to teams and individuals that go the extra mile to support people.

The CQC reports also highlight the positive interactions between our staff and patients and comment on our employees’ kindness and caring nature. This fills us with pride and shows that we are a truly compassionate organisation. Comments from the people that use our service were also positive, with people saying that they were treated with dignity and respect also being a theme across the reports. It is heartening to know that people are being treated in line with our values. It also shows that we are making steps in the right direction towards achieving our vision of high quality care, in the right place, at the right time, every time.

In summary, some of the positive aspects within the reports include:

• Most care plans were of good quality with evidence of patient involvement
• Services are delivered in line with national guidance and good practice
• Arrangements for children and young people transitioning to adult mental health services had improved since the last inspection
• Each clinical network had a clear and effective governance structure ‘from board to ward’
• The Trust has a clear vision and values, and there is evidence that the Trust’s strategy meets the needs of the population and is embedded across the clinical networks
• Evidence that the Trust’s strategy had been developed to meet the needs of the local population and the Trust is actively involved in the Lancashire and South Cumbria Change programme

The CQC reports also include feedback from the people that use our services, which is very positive overall. This is consistent with our friends and family test scores, which is above the England average for mental health care and in line with the England average for community health care.

There are some areas that the CQC require us to focus on. On the whole, these include issues that are already known to the Trust and that are in the process of being addressed, with some aspects such as staffing that will require on-going attention. In summary, those areas requiring focus are:

• Ensuring that all staff receive regular supervision and appraisals
• Continuing to implement the recruitment and retention drive to ensure there are enough staff to meet patients’ needs
• Ensuring that the seclusion policy is updated in line with the Mental Health Act Code of Practice
• Ensuring that staff who require essential training receive it in line with trust policy
• Notifying the CQC of all Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards applications
• Relocating Hurstwood Ward (formerly ward 22) from Burnley to Blackburn, which has now been completed.