Shortfalls in safety at mental health ward - CQC

A mental health trust's rating for its long stay and rehabilitation ward has been downgraded from "good" to "requires improvement" by a regulator following safety concerns.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected a facility in Ipswich Road, Colchester, run by Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT), in November.

Inspectors found "significant shortfalls" in safety including a large hole in fencing, which had been there for months and had been used by someone to abscond, as well as a failure to risk assess two people admitted to the ward.

Since learning of the issues, leaders had completed retrospective incident reports and had increased the number of staff, the CQC said.

The facility at 439 Ipswich Road, which provides care for up to 11 adults, was found to have no CCTV in the main or smaller buildings, fire risks including a bin bag covering an emergency exit light and broken equipment such as a vacuum cleaner, TVs and a fan in the garden.

CQC inspectors found the lack of risk assessments for two people meant staff did not have the information they needed to protect patients, while the hole in the fence was a concern as the service was caring for people detained under the Mental Health Act "for whom this wasn't safe".

They also raised issues with safeguarding referrals, oversight of staff, how incidents were investigated and learned from, and appropriate access to treatment for patients' rehabilitation.

Stuart Dunn, the CQC deputy director of operations in the East of England, said inspectors were "concerned to find leaders at 439 Ipswich Road weren't always acting quickly on safety concerns raised by their staff or the people in their care, although they did respond quickly when we raised them".

"Staff had reported safeguarding incidents affecting people's physical or sexual safety, but leaders hadn't thoroughly investigated or reported them to the local authority or CQC," he added.

"Because they failed to do so, they didn't learn from them or make changes, which left some people at risk of repeated harm."

EPUT's rating as a whole remains as "requires improvement". The trust has been the subject of the UK's first public inquiry into mental health deaths, which is due to hear pre-recorded evidence sessions from 20 April.

The trust's chief executive, Paul Scott, said: "We welcome the CQC's feedback and are committed to working with them as we continue to focus on the transformation of our mental health services to ensure all patients receive the consistently high quality and therapeutic care they deserve."

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