Newcastle hospitals told to improve care for people with mental health needs

Although staff were caring and kind, the CQC said "significant and immediate improvements" were needed

An "outstanding" hospitals trust has been given a warning to make "immediate improvements" to the care of people with mental health issues.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors visited Newcastle's Freeman and Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) hospitals in November and December.

It found the trust did not have "effective systems" to ensure people received care to meet their needs.

In response the trust said it was "committed to making improvements".

Sarah Dronsfield, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: "Across all services we found staff hadn't carried out and recorded assessments for people who presented with a mental health need.

"For example, in the trust's emergency department, we found staff hadn't completed mental capacity assessments or recorded decisions made about people who had presented with a mental health need, and at times they were preventing them from leaving the department."

Ms Dronsfield added that while staff worked "hard under pressure" and were "kind and caring", their knowledge of the Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act was "inconsistent between different wards and services".

The trust was served with a warning notice to make "significant and immediate improvements".

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors visited the Freeman and Royal Victoria Infirmary

Newcastle Hospitals executive chief nurse Maurya Cushlow said: "Delivering the best possible care to all our patients remains our top priority, and I want to thank staff for their incredible hard work.

"We are committed to making trust-wide improvements until we - and the CQC - are confident that we meet and demonstrate the required standards."

She added policies, processes and training would be reviewed.

The CQC said it would monitor its progress to ensure improvements were made.