Government watchdog reveals findings into NHS trust that provide services in Halifax

The trust, which has seven locations including sites in Dewsbury, Holmfirth and Halifax, was visited by an 18-strong team led by Head of Hospitals Inspection Jenny Wilkes.

The comprehensive inspection in May and June led to a 40-page report in which the CQC rated the services provided as Good.

This represents an improvement on their last inspection in March and April 2018 when the trust was rated as Requires Improvement.

At the latest inspection the service was rated as Requires Improvement for safe and Good for effective, caring, responsive and well-led.

The CQC inspected four complete core services:Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care unitsSpecialist community mental health services for children and young peopleWards for older people with mental health problemsCommunity-based mental health services for adults of working age

The Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and lead for Mental Health), Dr Paul Lelliott, congratulated management and staff for the trust’s improvement since the last inspection.

He said “good progress” had been made and that the trust had taken on board the CQC’s concerns and had worked hard to improve.

He added: “There are still areas that need attention but overall South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has performed well since the last inspection and I congratulate all concerned.”

The trust was told to take action in several areas including:Assessing, monitoring and mitigating risks relating to the safety of patientsChecking emergency equipmentMaintaining care recordsTreating patients with dignity and respectAccurately recording patient documentation relating to seclusion, restraint and Mental Health Act/Mental Capacity Act physical health monitoring.

Within the section of the report relating to acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units inspectors recorded a high rate of staff assaults.

Some patients reported staff could be “rude” or “abrupt”, and patients’ privacy was not always respected. Patient confidentiality was not always upheld.

However it was recorded that most staff treated patients with compassion and kindness.

Bed occupancy was found to be high resulting in some patients being moved to wards “not reflective of their needs” such as a psychiatric intensive care unit.

On other occasions patients had slept on an air bed because no proper bed was available.

There were also high numbers of patients readmitted after being discharged.

Among the trust’s facilities are Priestley Unit at Dewsbury, Enfield Down at Holmfirth and The Dales and Lyndhurst, both in Halifax.

It employs around 4,700 staff in both clinical and non-clinical support roles.

Full details of the ratings, including ratings for each individual service are given in the report published online at: https://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RXG