Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Trust ordered to improve

Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust provides mental health and disability services across Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Warrington and Wigan

An NHS trust that provides mental health and disability services across parts of Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester has been ordered to make improvements.

Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (FBPFT) has been rated as "requires improvement".

Concerns raised during a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection included inadequate risk assessments but other services were rated "good".

The trust has "action plans" in place.

FBPFT provides a range of mental health and disability services across Halton, Knowsley, St Helens, Warrington and Wigan.

It was rated as "requires improvement" overall and "good" for providing services that were "caring, effective and responsive".

'Reduce stigma'

Dr Paul Lelliott, the CQC's deputy chief inspector of hospitals, said: "We found that the quality of the services provided by Five Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was mixed.

"Some of the shortcomings in the way the trust managed medicines was attributable to the lack of basic training.

"In other areas inspectors found that risk assessments were inadequate.

"The trust was doing some things very well. Inspectors... found that there were enough staff and that there were effective safeguarding strategies in place."

Dr Lelliott was "pleased that the trust was working hard to reduce the stigma of mental health within the community".

Bernard Pilkington, FBPFT chairman, said: "The trust has already resolved all the actions the CQC has advised we must do and we have clear action plans in place to address those they have suggested we should do.

"I am confident we have the correct arrangements in place and deliver safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services to our patients and service users, putting us in a strong position to achieve a 'good' rating on the next visit."