CAMHS rated 'outstanding' at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in latest CQC inspection

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Somerset NHS Foundation Trust as 'good' overall following a recent inspection - with a number of areas jumping up to 'outstanding.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (SFT) is the first NHS trust on the English mainland to provide community, mental health, and acute hospital services - and was formally became one back at the start of the pandemic, with the formal merger of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust on 1 April 2020.

Inspectors visited the trust in September to assess three core services:

• Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU)
• Community end of life care services
• Specialist community mental health services for children and young people

The CQC's ratings per unit

• Specialist community mental health services for children and young people (CAHMS) has improved from requires improvement to outstanding
• Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) retained its previous rating of good overall
• Community end of life care services remained good overall and for being effective, caring, responsive and well-led
• Safe was rated as requires improvement
• Caring was rated as outstanding

Overall, the trust has been rated as good.

Deanna Westwood, CQC Director of Operations - South Network said: “It’s a remarkable achievement to merge trusts at the beginning of a national pandemic and yet Somerset NHS Foundation Trust have continued to maintain the good quality of service that we had come to expect from both Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

“During a period where children and adolescent mental health services are more needed than ever, the trust had adapted new ways to work with schools and other agencies to provide early support which in turn helped reduce waiting lists for those needed urgent support.

“This inspection found that the trust was well-led but the leadership team acknowledged there is still further work to be do. I’m confident that the leadership team will be able to implement the further improvements required but also sustain those changes already made.”

What inspectors found

• Staff treated people with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity and understood people’s individual needs
• Services were inclusive, took account of people’s’ preferences and their individual needs
• People had their communication needs met and information was shared in a way that could be understood
• The CAMHS teams had implemented a number of strategies to decrease waiting times to access the service which have resulted in a no waiting list for children and young people who need to access the service, as well as a decrease in referrals
• In community end of life care, staff understood the emotional and social impact that a person’s care, treatment or condition had on their wellbeing and on those close to them

However, inspectors also found that in acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units, there were potential ligature anchor points, but action plans were not developed on how to lower risks to keep people safe.

Peter Lewis, Chief Executive of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Today the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its report into Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (Somerset FT) after it inspected the trust in September last year.

“The CQC team assessed our acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care unit, specialist community mental health services for children and young people and community end of life care services of this trust and considered how “well-led” the organisation is.

“The trust’s overall rating remains good. We are rated outstanding for caring, good for effectiveness, responsiveness and the well-led domain, and requires improvement for safety. The CQC has rated our community mental health services for children and young people (CAMHS) as outstanding and our community end of life services and our acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care unit as good overall.

“The CQC inspection team found outstanding practice which it highlights in the report and includes the CAMHS team’s work and approach to eliminating waiting times for the service and the work of community end of life team to consider the specific needs of patient groups and better meet their needs.

“As part of its consideration of how “well-led” the trust is, the CQC observed a number of meetings and met leaders across the trust. The CQC’s inspection team noted that the trust has a clear vision and set of values that colleagues understand, the trust has well-embedded clinical leadership and the senior leadership team demonstrated a high level of awareness of the priorities and challenges facing the trust and how these were being addressed.

“The CQC inspection report also provides valuable insights about where we can improve, most notably at a trust-wide level by reviewing how we increase representation of black and minority ethnic colleagues in some areas and address the issues that black and minority ethnic colleagues report about bullying and harassment.

“Within the services that it inspected, the QCQ also highlighted issues for us to address which we are following up. We have taken immediate action to rectify the specific environmental issues within our mental health wards. We are also making wider improvements with the development of a new ward in Yeovil and the refurbishment of Rowan ward which cares for adults of working age who are experiencing an acute mental health problem.

“I thank the CQC inspection team for their time and insights and for Somerset FT colleagues for their ongoing focus on the needs of our patients and service users.”

You can read the report here.

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• somerset nhs foundation trust