Safety warning issued to Greater Manchester mental health trust

The Care Quality Commission has told a mental health trust to make immediate safety improvements after users were found to be at risk of harm.

 

The CQC inspected Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust in April following concerns raised by a whistleblower.  It found carers and users struggling to contact the service for support or during a crisis.

 

The health regulator said that the trust, which runs Prestwich Hospital in Bury, retains its overall “good” rating, but the safety rating for mental health services has dropped to “inadequate”, the lowest level.

 

The warning was issued after inspecting two teams and finding that patients and carers weren’t able to contact the service with ease regarding treatment and care; the service suffered from low staffing levels and high turnover rates; it did not effectively monitor patients waiting for assessment and treatment or keep risk assessments up to date; and staff were not consistently or appropriate assessing and managing risks or keeping good care records.

 

The watchdog’s head of hospital inspection Brian Cranna, said “managers supported and supervised newly qualified staff well and patients said the service was good.  However, people using the service and their carers also told us they struggled to contact the service for support or when in crisis.

 

“This left people at risk of harm as they had no way to tell staff their mental health had worsened.”

 

Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers have years of experience in medical negligence claims, providing support and guidance after life-changing events.  Not only do we represent clients in Yorkshire, but because of our reputation we also represent clients nationally.

 

If you believe that you or a relative may have been injured as a result of clinical/medical negligence, please call for free legal advice from our medical negligence solicitors on the freephone number below.

 

Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

 

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