Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's NHS Trust acute wards need improvement
A CQC report into the wards at Fulbourn Hospital and the Cavell Centre has been released
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found acute wards at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust needs improvement.
Despite the rating released in a report today, the Trust's overall rating remains good.
The watchdog visited wards at Fulbourn House in Cambridge, and the Cavell Centre, in Peterborough, in March this year, where inspectors found improvements suggested at their last inspection in 2022 hadn't been met.
In response to the report, the Trust's Interim Chief Nurse Rachel Gomm, said it's "important to acknowledge progress has been made" but accepts "there is still work to do".
Staff not reporting incidents of racial abuse
Inspectors found that some staff had experienced verbal racial abuse from people in their care, but would not report this because they didn't think it would bring any change.
The CQC say this 'isn't acceptable' and say leaders need to make sure staff have a safe working environment.
Other findings from the inspection found care records weren't always kept up-to-date, and there wasn't always enough staff to meet people's needs safely - but noted a 'proactive recruitment campaign' was underway.
Stuart Dunn, CQC deputy director of operations in the East of England, said:
“When we inspected the trust’s acute wards, we found the service hadn’t made all the improvements we recommended at our last inspection in October 2022 to keep people safe. The service wasn’t always sharing lessons from safety incidents between different wards, and we found observation records weren’t always updated accurately or quickly, risking people’s needs being missed."
Positive feedback
The report from the watchdog does go on to say that leaders ensured agency staff were familiar with the people they were caring for, and provided 'person-centred care'.
Other positives from the report showed many people gave positive feedback on the service, particularly noting 'staff were kind and they felt involved in care decisions'.
The Trust was also found to have made improvements to ward environments to better keep people safe, since the CQC's last inspection.
Wards were also kept clean and tidy.
"We are heading in the right direction"
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust noted the importance of inpatient mental health care being only one element of their work and the latest inspection has not changed the overall 'good' rating.
Responding to the CQC's findings, Rachel Gomm, Interim Chief Nurse at the Trust, said:
“It is important to acknowledge the progress that has been made since the last inspection by the Care Quality Commission. Our staff have worked incredibly hard to improve the care and treatment available on our inpatient mental health wards.
“While we fully accept there is still work to do, it is my firm belief that we are heading in the right direction. The support we offer to patients and their families is key, and we appreciate the many kind and supportive comments patients have made about their daily interactions with our staff.
“Inpatient mental health care is an important part of our organisation’s work, alongside this we also provide community mental health treatment for adults, children’s mental health services, community physical health care for older people and those with long term conditions, children’s health services, learning disability services and conduct ground-breaking research.
“Our overall CQC rating remains ‘good’.”