CQC inspection of older people's services

Following the CQC’s inspection of our older adult mental health wards last year, we accept the findings of the CQC’s assessment (published today) and are fully committed to addressing the areas identified for improvement.

Our focus is on delivering high-quality, person-centred care for all our patients.

While the inspection highlighted several areas requiring improvement - including therapeutic observations, medicines management, clinical supervision, and person-centred care planning - it also acknowledged areas of good practice.

These included the compassionate care of staff, clean and safe ward environments, low levels of restrictive practice, and good access to advocacy and patient rights information.

The CQC also recognised our culture of safety and openness, our systems for incident learning, and the willingness of staff and patients to raise concerns safely and confidently.

Since the inspection, we have developed and are delivering a comprehensive improvement plan focused on ten key priority areas.

This includes:

• Strengthening therapeutic observations and engagement through targeted training and improved documentation tools.
• Enhancing medicines management, with new training, monitoring and governance systems in place across all wards.
• Improving clinical supervision and support, including revised compliance monitoring and processes.
• Embedding person-centred care planning, with clearer standards and documentation reviews to ensure patients’ needs and voices are central to their care.
• Raising professional standards and promoting a culture of respect and kindness, through Trust-wide civility campaigns and values-based behaviour frameworks.
• Reducing restrictive practices, with renewed emphasis on de-escalation, trauma-informed care and bespoke training.
• Securing safer staffing, supported by recruitment efforts, daily oversight tools, and improved induction processes.
• Ensuring compliance with mental health and capacity law, with strengthened training, audits, and central tracking of Mental Health Act responsibilities.
• Enhancing training and skills, including new dementia training for staff working with people living with cognitive conditions.
• Increasing access to meaningful activity and occupational therapy, particularly on dementia wards, as well as expanding therapeutic provision.

We are working in close partnership with people with lived experience, carers and advocacy organisations to make service improvements and ensure patient voice drives change.

We are also proud that our latest NHS Staff Survey results reflect this direction of travel - with improvements across all seven NHS People Promise themes, scores above the national average, and recognition as the best mental health and learning disability trust to work for in the North.

We are grateful to our staff for their ongoing commitment to delivering safe, respectful and recovery-focused care.

We will continue to work closely with the CQC and our partners to provide regular updates and evidence of lasting change and improvement.