Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The Trust is required to register with the CQC and its current registration status is fully registered. The Trust has no conditions on registration.

The Trust has been registered to carry out the following regulated activities:

• Treatment of disease disorder or injury
• Assessment and medical treatment of persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• We are not registered for personal care

The CQC ensures health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and they encourage care services to improve.

The CQC’s role is to monitor, inspect and regulate services to ensure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety; they publish their findings, including performance ratings to help people choose care. They have a surveillance model which is built on a suite of indicators that relate to the five key questions inspectors ask all services – are they safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led.

The Trust had a comprehensive inspection in April 2017 and received an overall inspection rating of Good. This was a substantial improvement over the previous inspection in November 2015, with a particularly marked improvement in the safety domain from Inadequate to Good. The inspection highlighted many examples of good practice. The Trust’s specialist community and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) received an Outstanding rating for their commitment to young people and families. Community and inpatient services for adults of working age and learning disabilities services were rated as requiring improvements. The Trust has robustly implemented an action plan to address those areas of further improvement; these are also linked to the Trust’s continuous quality improvement programme. 

The Trust was then subject to a further core services inspection of some of its services and as Well-led review in November 2018; in January 2019 the Trust received its report showing a further improvement with all elements of all services inspected receiving a rating of Good or above. The Trust was rated overall Good with an Outstanding rating for Well-led. The reports are available on the CQC website www.cqc.org.uk/provider/rp7 

In March 2020, the CQC inspected long stay/rehabilitation mental health wards for adults of working age; the report was received, and an action plan put in place and delivered through 2020/21.  Key line of enquiry ‘are services well led’ was due to be inspected in March/April 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic was postponed.

During 2022/2023 the Trust has not received a core, comprehensive or focused inspection.

The Trust is also subject to periodic Mental Health Act (MHA) reviews by the CQC. Mental Health Act reviewers perform this work by visiting all places where patients are detained under the act.

The table below identifies the visits conducted during 2022/23

The Trust is fully compliant in respect of previous MHA visits; MHA CQC visit action plans are monitored through the Trust’s Legislative Committee.