1 week Ago
Concerns have been raised about the safety and quality of care at a mental health trust. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units (PICU) at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust as "requires improvement". This follows an unannounced inspection in May last year, prompted by concerns about the service's safety and quality.
The inspection focused on the Mill View Hospital site, which has five acute wards for adults of working age and PICU. The Regency and Caburn wards were specifically scrutinised during the inspection. The CQC's findings have led to the service being rated as "requires improvement" overall and for safety, with the "well-led" category rated as "good".
The trust's overall rating remains unchanged at "good". Serena Coleman, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, said: "We found at our inspection of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s acute wards for adults of working age and PICU that some of the concerns we had received about the safety and quality of the service were founded. "Staff weren’t always managing environmental risks to people’s safety.
"We found some ligature risks in the bathrooms on Regency ward hadn’t been identified or mitigated and some staff didn’t know whether there were ligature risk assessments at all. "On Caburn ward, there were areas without clear lines of sight enabling staff to observe people were safe. "We raised these concerns with leaders and they paused admissions to address the immediate safety issues.
" The inspection also revealed that staff did not always report incidents or near-misses, preventing proper investigation, and care plans were not always updated after incidents. Some people described the wards as "noisy and chaotic" and expressed concerns about illicit drug use and access to harmful objects. There were also concerns about the use of physical restraint without de-escalation of distress.
Ms Coleman added: "In addition, staff didn’t always follow the trust’s policies to manage medicines. "People’s care plans and risk assessments lacked detail about medicines with known risks and how staff should monitor these. "There was also a high use of medicines to reduce anxiety, agitation and aggression on both wards.
"We found gaps in records when rapid tranquilisation had been used as staff didn’t always record the rationale for its use or monitor changes to people’s physical health afterwards." However, the inspection did find that both wards were fully staffed with the right roles to meet people’s needs and ensure consistent care. There was a good multidisciplinary team working well together and with partner organisations to improve people’s outcomes.
The trust has been informed of the findings and has started to make progress on the areas for improvement. The CQC will continue to monitor the service closely, including through future inspections, to ensure people are safe. The inspection also found that staff knew how to identify and protect people from the risk of abuse, and the trust responded to safeguarding incidents well.
Care records showed people had been given information about their rights under the Mental Health Act when they were admitted to the wards and on a regular basis afterwards. However, managers had not always ensured consent forms were completed and lacked oversight on how bank and agency staff were inducted on the wards. Some staff felt the wards were understaffed and lacked space for on-call doctors to work in.
Two staff members said they felt overworked, and others spoke of a disconnect between doctors, healthcare assistants, and nurses in the service. The CQC apologised for the delay in publishing the report due to a large-scale transformation programme that resulted in problems with the systems and processes. However, any immediate action needed to protect people using services was not affected.
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