Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust improvements still needed

The trust is based at West Park Hospital, a mental health and learning disability facility in Darlington

An inspection into the quality of care at a mental health trust said more work needs to be done, despite improvements.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out inspections of in-patient and community mental health services at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust.

Despite positive changes, it found a backlog of about 100 serious incidents requiring investigation by the trust.

The trust said the report showed its "continuous improvement" but accepted further improvements were needed.

In September, the trust admitted failures in the care of two patients who took their own lives.

The trust provides mental health and learning disability services to people of all ages across the north-east of England, covering County Durham, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

The latest inspection by the CQC was carried out after concerns were raised regarding the trust's quality of care, following serious incidents in some of its 167 services.

The trust has 167 services across 66 locations, including West Park Hospital in Darlington

The inspection also looked for areas of improvement, following a previous CQC inspection which deemed some services inadequate.

It found "people continued to wait too long" to access some services, especially in child and adolescent mental health services and for neurodevelopmental assessments.

In summary, inspectors found:

• Of the six services inspected, three were rated as "requires improvement" and three as "good"

• The trust no longer has any services rated "inadequate"

• Leaders were experienced, visible and approachable

• Staff felt supported and valued

• There was good and improved engagement with staff, stakeholders and partners

• The trust had made it easier for services to escalate risks

However, the following points were made regarding continued improvement:

• The trust was "reluctant" to reach out to people where treatment had caused harm

• The trust failed to apologise for incidents resulting in harm

• There were not always enough trained staff to deliver safe care

• Staff did not always take action to reduce risk

• Seclusion facilities were not always fit for purpose, with some wards having "blind spots"

Sarah Dronsfield, CQC deputy director of operations in the north of England, said: "When we inspected Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, there had been a number of positive changes in the senior leadership team since our last inspection, and we were pleased to find the culture had improved and it was more open and transparent.

"However, we did find areas where improvements still need to be made. For example, the trust had a backlog of around 100 serious incidents which required investigation, which needed to be reviewed.

"This backlog delays opportunities for the trust to learn lessons and make improvements to prevent incidents recurring."

She added the trust is receiving external support to manage the backlog.

The trust said it was at the halfway point of its five-year transformation programme.

Chief executive Brent Kilmurray said the trust "fully accepted that further improvements are needed to get to where we want to be".

"However, we have come a long way in a relatively short space of time and this report demonstrates our continuous improvement.

"It's pleasing that a running theme throughout the report is that our staff are kind and caring and demonstrate our values in the care they provide.

"As with other trusts throughout the NHS, successful staff recruitment remains a pressing priority and is the key to us achieving all our goals."

The report will be published on CQC's website on Wednesday 25 October.