The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated mental health crisis services and health-based places of safety provided by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust as requires improvement, following an inspection in September last year.
What inspectors found
The trust has six crisis resolution home treatment teams and five health-based places of safety for inpatient treatment, which form part of the trust’s mental health services in the community.
CQC carried out this inspection as part of its adult community mental health programme, which contributes to its commitment to inspect the standard of care in community mental health services across the country.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust respond below.
Seven breaches of regulation
Inspectors found seven breaches of regulation related to staffing, response times for urgent and very urgent mental health care, seclusion practices, direct outdoor access and overall management of the service. CQC has asked the trust for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this inspection.
This was CQC’s first inspection of the service since Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was formed in 2024. Inspectors rated safe, responsive, effective and well-led as requires improvement and rated caring as good.
The overall rating for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust remains ‘requires improvement’.
Areas of concern
- Short staffing in the crisis teams was causing delays for people using the service, and making some staff feel unsafe.
- People couldn’t always access a health-based place of safety, or the crisis helpline, when they needed to and crisis support in specific regional locations wasn’t always appropriate.
- Although staff knew how to identify people at risk of significant harm, they didn’t always raise safeguarding concerns appropriately and these weren’t always recorded.
- People staying at two of the trust’s health-based places of safety didn’t always have direct access to fresh air
- The service didn’t always provide a safe environment for people and staff. For example, there weren’t always alarms for staff to use.
Positive findings
- Staff treated people with kindness and compassion and they understood the diverse health and care needs of people using the service.
- Safety events were investigated and reported, and lessons were learned to continually identify and embed good practice.
- The trust had a carers involvement team and provided a range of support for carers, including support groups.
What happens next
The report will be published on CQC’s website in the coming days.
Trust apologises and pledges improvements
Suzie Marriott, Chief Nurse and Executive Director of Allied Health Professions and Social Work at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, told OnTheWight,
“We are sorry that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection found that our mental health crisis services did not consistently provide the standard of care people have a right to expect.
“While we are proud that our staff were recognised for their kindness and compassion, we fully accept the concerns raised in relation to access to services, response times, governance, environments and staffing. We recognise the impact this may have had on people using our services, their families and carers, and our staff, and we offer our sincere apologies.
“As a newly formed organisation, we are working at pace to bring together services and establish consistent, high-quality standards across the trust. We have already taken steps to improve access to our services, reduce waiting times, and improve our governance arrangements. We have also developed a comprehensive action plan to address all of the issues identified by the CQC.
“We are committed to learning from this inspection and are implementing the necessary improvements to ensure everyone experiencing a mental health crisis receives timely, safe and compassionate care, wherever they are in our communities.”
News shared by Elaine on behalf of the CQC. Ed
