North East MPs have slammed the 'shockingly disappointing findings' at some of the region's hospital wards as 'simply not good enough'.

Wards at two hospitals in Durham and Middlesbrough where care is provided to adults with learning disabilities and autism have been told to make improvements by inspectors following a ‘significant deterioration in standards of care’.

Read more: Durham and Middlesbrough hospital wards rated inadequate by CQC

A damning report found that staff at Lanchester Road Hospital in Durham 'didn’t always understand how to protect people from poor care and abuse', with three people injured during restraints.

There were also 32 reports of incidents where injuries were sustained, with some requiring treatment, which inspectors said was “unacceptable”.

The rating for wards, run by the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, for people with learning disabilities or autistic people has dropped from good to inadequate.

Darlington MP Peter Gibson described the findings as "shockingly disappointing" and the services provided were "simply not good enough".

He also said he will be seeking an urgent meeting with the Health Secretary to ask that action is immediately taken as 'the people of Darlington and the rest of the area served by the trust simply deserves better."

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Meanwhile, Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham described the report as damning and said patients were 'clearly not' being looked after at the highest standard.

A inspection took place across both Durham and Middlesbrough sites over three weeks in May and June. This was in response to concerns from whistleblowers around staffing levels at Lanchester Road.

However, due to further issues found, this was extended to a full comprehensive inspection of the service.

The Northern Echo:

Mr Gibson said: “Over the past two and a half years I have engaged with TEWV extensively on a range of issues, often brought about by failings in their service.

"I had been led to believe that things were improving and they were turning things around but today’s shockingly disappointing findings lay bare that the change we need and the service that  the community TEWV serves is just simply not good enough.

"I will be seeking an urgent meeting with the Health Secretary to ask that action is immediately taken. The people of Darlington and the rest of the area served by TEWV simply deserves better."

The Northern Echo:

Mr Cunningham said: “This is another damning CQC report on the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust’s failure to keep both residents safe and ensure appropriate levels of staffing to meet the needs of people at Bankfields Court and Lanchester House.

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“Patients, families and staff deserve to know that the facilities being provided at these centres are of a good level and that people are being looked after at the highest standard. This is clearly not the case at the present time.

“Time and again I and my neighbouring MP for Middlesbrough, Andy McDonald, have called on the Conservative Government to step up and deliver a plan, backed with the needed resources and funding to recruit and train staff, that will help the Trust turn its services around.

“These calls have been met with twelve years of inaction from successive Health Secretaries and by doing nothing Ministers are failing both people who use the facilities at Bankfields and Lanchester and the hard-working staff who are understaffed and under-pressure.”  

The Northern Echo:

Karen Knapton, CQC head of hospital inspection, said: “When we visited Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, we found a significant deterioration in standards of care at Lanchester Road, as well as some concerns at Bankfields Court, since our last inspection in 2019.

“We found some people didn’t have the opportunity to lead inclusive and empowered lives due to overly restrictive practice on both sites, which must be addressed as a priority to keep people safe.

“At Bankfields Court, we were concerned that managers didn’t always recognise the restrictive practice being used. Also, it wasn’t always recorded, and staff didn’t learn from incidents to reduce the levels of restrictions in place for some people.

“It was concerning that Lanchester Road had insufficient, appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs, due to high levels of vacancies and staff sickness. This meant people didn’t receive consistent care from staff who knew them well and could care for their individual needs.

“Additionally, at this site staff didn’t always understand how to protect people from poor care and abuse. Three people had been injured during restraints, and 32 incidents of injury had been reported for healthcare assistants, some requiring treatment. This is unacceptable and measures must be put in place to keep patients and staff safe.

“We have told the trust what improvements must be made, and we will continue to monitor the service closely, returning to check on progress to ensure people using the service are receiving the care they should be able to expect.”

Jennifer Illingworth, care group director for children and young people and learning disabilities at the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Given the previous good ratings for this service, this is clearly disappointing. We are committed to improving the experience for patients in our care and we are delivering an urgent action plan that is already showing we are making improvements.

“We immediately commissioned an independent peer review into the service after the inspection in May and acted swiftly on its recommendations.

“Going forward, we will continue to work with our partners on the future provision of learning disability and autism services to ensure that together we offer the right packages of care that meets the needs of patients and their families.”

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