Plymouth Mental Health Services Praised By Watchdog

Mental health services in Plymouth have been praised for improvements made after ‘serious concerns’ were raised for the safety of patients in the city.

Independent watchdog the Healthcare Commission has commended the hard work and progress made by staff at Plymouth Teaching Primary Care Trust (PCT).

Concerns about the safety and quality of the trust’s mental health services were first raised with the Healthcare Commission in September 2005.

It made seven key recommendations for the PCT to implement after a series of problems were highlighted, including a culture of bullying and harassment, a high number of staff suspensions, poor training and unacceptable staffing levels.

The commendation has come in a letter from the Healthcare Commission’s investigation manager Sarah Seaholme to PCT chief executive John Richards, following a visit to the trust.

She wrote: “It was evident that Plymouth PCT had put in a lot of hard work to make improvements in the areas concerned.

“Comprehensive systems appear to be in place, and there is a feeling that these are beginning to be embedded.

“The Commission is assured by the current progress and improvements made.”

The letter also identified areas where the trust could consider further action.

These relate to ‘gaps’ in information which the trust board receives about human resources and serious untoward incidents, how progress is monitored and the gathering of data.

Prior to the visit the Commission’s investigation team had received evidence from Plymouth PCT as well as supporting updates from NHS South West, the region’s strategic health authority.

During the one-day visit the Healthcare Commission team examined the trust’s progress against the seven recommendations which had previously been made.

Sara Mitchell, director of nursing for Plymouth PCT, welcomed the commendation.

She said: “This is great news, and really recognises the enormous progress our staff have made in improving services for our patients.

“As an organisation, we’ve really concentrated on improving the way we support our staff, develop our leaders and create a positive culture that doesn’t tolerate bullying or harassment,” she said.

“Of course there’s more work to do, but we are committed to improvement and to ensuring the progress made is built on.”

Jennie Kingston, associate director of performance for NHS South West, added: “Plymouth PCT is focused on improvement and rightly deserves the congratulations given to the assistant director of governance, the director of nursing (on behalf of the mental health services) and the director of workforce development and her team in respect of human resources policies.

“I’m pleased to say that the Healthcare Commission is now closing down the initial consideration, which is an excellent result for the PCT,” she said.

Monitoring of the implementation of the seven recommendations will now be handed back to the PCT and NHS South West.