Improvements needed at Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust provides a range of mental health and learning disability services for people of all ages
An NHS trust in Coventry and Warwickshire has been told to make improvements over concerns of long waiting times and safety of mental health patients.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated three services at Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust as requires improvement following an inspection in July and August.
This inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services.
Inspectors visited the community mental health services for people with a learning disability or autism, long stay/rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults, and acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units.
Following the inspection, the services were all rated requires improvement overall.
There are concerns about long term staff absences causing increased waiting times for people needing urgent care – with some patients waiting for over three months.
The report also highlighted issues with record keeping in some services and responding to safeguarding alerts.
However, services managed safety incidents well and managers investigated incidents and shared lessons learned with all staff.
The overall rating for the Trust remains as good, as well as for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, amanda Lyndon, said: "When we inspected Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust, we found a hardworking and caring workforce with staff who were always kind and respectful to people. However, there were areas where leaders need to make improvements to ensure people continue to receive timely, safe, and appropriate care.
“For example, staff raised concerns about long term staff absences causing increased waiting times for people requiring physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Two people had been waiting for urgent physiotherapy for over three months.
"We were also concerned that the service wasn’t managing restricted items which could cause harm safely. There was an incident where someone using the service had access to a lighter which was a potential fire risk on the ward. There needs to be a robust checking system in place so dangerous items can’t be accessed by people.
“It was positive, however, that staff planned and managed discharge well and liaised effectively with services that would provide aftercare. As a result, discharge was rarely delayed meaning people could return home as quickly as possible.
“We also received very complimentary feedback from people using the service with everyone saying they were happy and had no complaints about the care received.
“We’ll continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to make sure the required improvements have been made and people are receiving the safe care they deserve. We won’t hesitate to take action if we find this isn’t happening.”
In response to the report, Chief Nursing Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, Mary Mumvuri, said:“The CQC conducted inspections of three of the Trust’s core services in July and August 2023, and we welcome the report and its findings. As a Trust, we had instigated a series of quality improvement programmes, and we were pleased to see the CQC report identified the positive impact of this work, that the services had a positive culture and were keen to improve, and that all services were rated “Good” for caring.
“We know we have some work to do, especially in relation to record keeping in some services, ensuring we respond to safeguarding alerts in line with Trust policies and that all staff receive and record their regular training, supervision, and appraisals in line with Trust policy, and have already implemented actions against these findings.
“We are pleased that the CQC report recognised improvements had been made in relation to recruitment, and that patients spoke very positively about our staff and said that they worked hard, were caring and supportive. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our teams for their hard work, passion, and dedication.
“We will continue to work with the CQC, our commissioners, and patients and carers to ensure the services meet the required standards, and that we provide the highest standards of care for those who use our services.”
The report is published on CQC’s website.