Sheffield mental health trust given urgent notice to improve by government inspectors

After an inspection by the Care Quality Commission earlier this year, the Sheffield Health and Social Care Trust has been issued a warning notice outlining four serious areas of concern.

These include a shortage of experienced staff working on adult acute mental health wards and psychiatric intensive care units, and a lack of appropriate training and supervision for staff.

The CQC also says the trust has failed to ensure patients’ health needs in relation to the side effects of medication and has inadequate systems to manage risks to those in its care.

In a letter shared with governors yesterday, interim chief executive Clive Clarke said: “This is a situation we’ve never been in before, it’s also something that I am confident we can avoid if all staff pull together.

“Over the next few weeks, many of our staff will be involved in work to address the issues raised.

“Due to the warning notice, we will be re-inspected on the four areas of concern after the end of May to make sure that we have carried out the improvements that the CQC has told us we must make.

"We know this will be disappointing news for you to read and I want to assure you that we are taking every possible action to ensure we rectify these issues as soon as possible.

“I know that together we can make changes that will move the trust in the right direction.”

The trust has been told if it does not address the concerns by May 29 this year it could face further inspections or even lose autonomy over how it delivers its services.

The report will be discussed at a meeting of trust governors this afternoon (Thursday, February 27) at Voluntary Action Sheffield on Rockingham Lane in Sheffield city centre.

A spokesperson for Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘We take the concerns raised in the section 29a notice from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) very seriously.

“We are already working on these issues and have put in place a rapid response action plan to address each of the areas of concern.

“We will continue to work with the Care Quality Commission to deliver high-quality care for our service users.”

The notice to improve comes almost a year after allegations emerged that senior staff had created a culture of ‘fear, bullying and harassment’ at the trust.

An investigation followed, the results of which have never been made public, and the trust never confirmed or denied the manager was still in post.