Concern over Black Country mental health service users' safety

The health and care regulator said it "had significant concerns" about the care and safety of people using a mental health service.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said Black Country Healthcare Trust's acute wards for working age adults and psychiatric intensive care unit still require improvement.

A CQC report said while staff had updated risk assessments for all ward areas the NHS trust had not "reduced" risks.

The report said five wards were inspected following concerns about the quality of care and engagement with patients.

It said care plans were not always ‘personalized’ to individual patients and some risk assessments had been "used from previous admissions meaning patients could be at risk.”

The regulator "found ligature risks on all wards we visited identified in ligature risk assessments that had not been mitigated.”

But the report added that workers were "discreet" and respectful when dealing with people and patient safety incidents were "well-managed, and staff knew how to report these appropriately."

Staff from different disciplines worked together "as a team to benefit patients", it added.

The CQC said the trust must ensure all premises are free of potential risks and that all staff involved in patient care have access to the electronic patient record system.

The trust's overall rating remains unchanged as "good.”

Black Country Healthcare Trust chief executive, Mark Axcell, said, while the report highlighted areas it needed to build upon, the organisation was "pleased to see many examples of good practice highlighted.”

He said "We have already made good progress in many areas since the visit and we look forward to showcasing these in our upcoming inspection of core services.