Improvements made at mental health trust, says CQC

A mental health trust has made "some improvements" to a few of its services, inspectors said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an inspection at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) between November and December.

The CQC visited nine wards across the trust to see if progress had been made after some its services were rated inadequate in 2023.

A report by the government agency said inspectors had "found some improvements in acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units" run by EPUT.

Inspectors visited wards at Colchester Mental Health Hospital, Derwent Centre in Harlow, Linden Centre in Chelmsford, Basildon Mental Health Unit and Rochford Hospital.

Improvements were found in areas such as care planning, engagement with people who use the service and ward cleanliness.

The CQC said there was enough regular staff on wards including psychology staff and physical health nurses across the locations.

It added: "Leaders had taken action to improve the organisational culture, particularly around equality, diversity and inclusion, and prioritised the reporting of racial abuse against staff, an area previously identified as a concern."

The trust was also told in 2023 it needed to improve in areas such as administering, prescribing and recording medicines safely.

It was further stated that some records indicated that "people were given medicines above recommended doses within a 24-hour period".

"The trust had made improvements to care plans which were now holistic and reviewed regularly, but they didn't always have details or consistency across different documents," the CQC said.

Paul Scott, the chief executive of EPUT, said: "I am pleased that the CQC noted a number of improvements since its previous inspection in 2023.

"Much progress has been made in partnership with patients, carers and those with lived experience of our services.

"We absolutely recognise there is more to do as we continue to focus on the transformation of our mental health services, embedding a new model of care on our wards that will boost staffing levels and ensure all patients receive consistently high quality, therapeutic care to meet their individual needs."

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