NHS Trust in Cambridgeshire faces staffing challenges
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust say they are at risk of non-compliance with CQC staffing regulation
An NHS Trust that provides mental health and other specialist services in Cambridgeshire is facing a risk of not having enough experienced staff to deliver care. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) has identified a risk regarding compliance with a Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulation for staffing.
The Trust, responsible for the Cavell Centre in Peterborough and Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge, provides a range of NHS services within the community, including mental health and specialist services.
Pri Pinnaduwa, a non-executive director at the Trust, highlighted this risk at a board of directors meeting on 31 July. Pinnaduwa stated there was a “risk around complying with CQC regulation 18, which requires us as a Trust to have sufficiently qualified and experienced staff to deliver the services required.”
The CQC’s regulation 18 mandates that providers deploy enough “suitably qualified, competent and experienced staff” to meet the needs of service users. The regulation specifies that staff must receive the necessary support, training, professional development, supervision, and appraisals to carry out their roles effectively.
Pinnaduwa added that the Trust faced a risk of having “insufficient resources” to deliver clinical mandatory training and noted that the number of vacancies was creating concerns regarding staff wellbeing. She assured that the leadership was aware of these issues and was working to address them.
Papers presented at the meeting indicated that the current vacancy rate at CPFT remained below its target, citing “significant national shortages” of registered and unregistered staff, high living costs in Cambridgeshire, and challenges in finding accommodation as contributing factors. Despite a decrease in staff turnover, which stood at 11.7% in May, this figure was still above the target of 10.5%.
The report outlined efforts to improve staff turnover rates, mentioning “successful recruitment campaigns and a reduction of staff leaving.” However, it noted ongoing challenges such as the high cost of living, accommodation issues, access to equipment, working conditions, demand and capacity challenges, and the visibility of wider leadership.
The majority of CPFT staff had completed core mandatory training, with compliance at 92.74% in May, surpassing the Trust target of 90%. However, the Trust fell short on mandatory role-specific training, with 88.02% of staff having completed it, below the 90% target.
The Trust cited “continued resourcing pressures” as impacting staff engagement with training, prioritising service delivery during these times. CPFT stated it was working on offering more flexible training delivery methods in the future.