The region’s under-fire mental health service should be put into special measures, the chief inspector of hospitals said today, after a highly-critical report branded the trust “inadequate”.
Regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) as “inadequate” overall in a damning report today, following an inspection in October last year.
Inspectors gave both the leadership of the trust and safety of services its lowest rating and cited a long list of areas for concern and improvement.
Dr Paul Lelliott, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: “We found a number of serious problems when we inspected the services run by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
“We were concerned about the safety and quality of care provided by some of the trust’s services. We were also struck by the low morale of many of the staff that we interviewed who told us that their voices were not heard by those managing the trust.”
In perhaps the most damning description, inspectors wrote: “The board could not assure us that it knew how the trust was performing and how decisions were implemented or impacted on quality.”
“It was difficult to see how the decisions made at the board are executed and monitored,” inspectors continued.
Click on the image below to read more of Tom Bristow’s story on the EDP website. There will be more in the printed EDP tomorrow.
