A North East mental health service has vowed to do more after recent CQC inspections found it was still inadequate in one area despite improvements being made.

Following a recent unannounced inspection by the CQC, services at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust have improved.

Inspectors found that improvements had been made to forensic inpatient or secure wards and the rating improved from "inadequate" to "requires improvement."

Effective, care and well-led also improved from "inadequate" to requires "improvement."

Before this, previous inspections found that many aspects of the mental health service were found lacking.

In particular, forensic inpatient or secure wards at the trust were found to be inadequate.

In a separate inspection, wards for people with learning disabilities or autism were also rated as inadequate.

On the inspection, CQC issued a warning notice and told the trust to make a number of improvements to ensure care and treatment were delivered in a safe way.

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Despite some improvements, responsive remained rated as "requires improvement" and safe remained rated as inadequate.

The trust's overall rating remains as requires improvement.

Inspectors found that the service did not follow practices for safeguarding and staff did not always make safeguarding referrals.

Staff also didn’t record or report incidents appropriately and sometimes reported multiple incidents with just one incident report.

Meanwhile, staff did not ensure that patients’ health was appropriately monitored with high-dose antipsychotic treatment, blood glucose and, where appropriate, bowel monitoring.

Inspectors found that managers did not always make sure staff had the correct skills and experience to work on mental health, learning disability and autism wards.

Staff did not treat patients with compassion, kindness and respect, especially the language they used to describe patients.

Karen Knapton, CQC head of hospital inspection, said inspectors were “pleased to see the culture in the forensic inpatient wards had improved since their last inspection.”

She said: “Staff felt more supported by managers and processes were in place for them to escalate staffing concerns.

“Although some improvements had been made, more work was needed to provide safe care.

“We found the wards still didn’t have enough nurses to carry out all the necessary duties and there wasn’t always enough staff to provide a timely response to patient safety incidents.

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She added: “The service provided a range of treatments, however poor staffing levels meant that patients didn’t always have access to activities, psychological interventions, occupational therapy or escorted leave, and staff couldn’t always take their breaks.

“It was reassuring that staff actively involved patients and families in care decisions, as well as supporting them to live healthier lives.

“We will continue monitor the trust and return to check on progress.”

Naomi Lonergan, Care Group Director of the Secure Inpatient Services at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said:

“We have been working hard to improve the service since the previous Care Quality Commission inspection in June 2021 and we are encouraged by the improvement in the rating.

“We have recruited 70 health care assistants since the last inspection and we are working with local universities to support the recruitment of registered nurses.

“This is in addition to developing an international recruitment strategy which is already making a difference.

“We have set up a health care assistant council and one for nurses to improve how colleagues contribute to the quality of care within our trust.

“We are also focused on creating a community on our wards, through the work we do with our recovery and outcomes team who put on events and activities for people in our care that help their recovery.

“We recognise that there is more to be done. This includes an unrelenting focus on patient safety with our absolute priority being on safe staffing and safeguarding our patients. 

“We continue to prioritise the experience of our patients, their carers and colleagues to make the improvements we need to and we are confident the service is making these changes and will continue to do so.”

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