Trust 'inadequate' after patients smoke on wards

Inspectors said the ward staff struggled to stop people smoking cigarettes

Mental health wards where staff were unable to stop patients smoking and did not know what to do when fire alarms went off have been ordered to "rapidly improve".

Inspectors found a paper towel stuffed into a smoke detector during visits in March to acute wards for adults and psychiatric intensive care units in Greater Manchester.

The service, run by Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, has been downgraded to inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Salli Midgley, the trust's chief nurse, said staff were "working hard" to make improvements after the failings highlighted by the watchdog.

Alison Chilton from the CQC said inspectors found fire safety was a particular issue on the wards, as staff lacked fire safety training and regular drills did not take place.

They found oxygen cylinders loosely attached to walls in some areas, with fire risks "not managed well" in wards that were "not always clean or well maintained".

When a fire alarm was set off during their visit on one of the wards, the response was "uncoordinated and confused", the watchdog's report said.

'Performing badly'

The management of ligature risk assessments on the mental health wards and psychiatric units were also a concern for inspectors.

Other issues included medicine storage, lack of training, in some cases illicit drug use, and inspectors concluded the service was "performing badly".

The CQC had also downgraded the trust's long stay, rehabilitation mental health wards to requires improvement after an inspection in June.

Infection risk, fire safety, patient care and monitoring were identified as areas of concern.

Ms Chilton said the trust had been told to make "rapid and significant improvements".

"We will not hesitate to take further action if necessary to keep people safe," she added.

Ms Midgley said the trust had set up a new executive leadership team to drive improvements.

She said the care and safety of patients was "our priority".