Report on North East mental health trust claims services 'require improvement'
A mental health service at a major North East NHS trust has been told it requires inspection by a recent inspection.
The Quality Care Commission (CQC) recently released its report following an inspection of Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust following a June assessment.
Specifically commenting on the care of wards for older people with mental health problems, the final report saw services praised in part, although the overall view was that these services require inspection.
The Trust provides mental health and disability services and support across the north of England.
Of the five ratings the CQC awards care services, three points were rated as good. These were the effectiveness of the service, the care given to patients and how responsive the setup is.
However, two points were described as ‘requiring improvement’.
These are listed as categories of ‘well-led’ and ‘safety’ in the report, and is what resulted in the overall rating of the same description.
The report reads: “We carried out an unannounced on site assessment visiting all 9 wards for older people with mental health problems at Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust on the 16, 17 and 18 June 2025.
“We visited the following sites: Monkwearmouth Hospital - Sunderland Carleton Clinic - Carlisle Campus for Ageing and Vitality - Newcastle upon Tyne St George's Park Morpeth The assessment was planned due to an aged rating as well as some emerging risks highlighted by our data which included information about falls where people had come to harm.
“The wards for older people with mental health problems were last inspected in 2018 and were rated good at that time with an outstanding in the caring domain.
“We rated the service as requires improvement, with safe and well rated requires improvement and effective, caring and responsive as good. There were 3 breaches of regulation in relation to safe care and treatment, staffing and governance.
“Staff did not always assess risks to people's health and safety or mitigate them where identified. Oversight of ligatures was managed via several different documents, none of which instructed staff on how to safely manage the environment and where there were hot spots.
Furthermore, leaders did not ensure there was adequate oversight of the issues mentioned above, despite audits being carried out, and environmental issues had not been rectified despite staff raising concerns for some time.
“However, patient and carer feedback about care was positive, there were enough staff to ensure people’s safety and meet their needs. People were supported to have choice and control and could give feedback on their care.”
Inspectors have confirmed they are requesting an action report to show work is being done to alleviate the issues found.
This includes the Trust ensuring care and treatment is provided in a safe way to patients, sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff are deployed across wards and establish “systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care”.
Part of the assessment also saw inspectors speak to patients and carers, receiving positive feedback.
Published comments included “the Team work together, they exude friendship, compassion and… They’re very knowledgeable” while one family member who’s relative had received end of life care on the ward told us“they made a big difference to me, I will always be grateful to them”.
The report includes recent feedback, adding how this was “very positive” with 76 out of 77 positive responses.
Sarah Rushbrooke, Executive Director of Nursing and Therapies said: “We accept the findings of the CQC’s inspection and are committed to making the necessary improvements to ensure our older adult mental health wards provide safe, high-quality care.
“Our teams work incredibly hard to provide compassionate, person-centred care, and we’re pleased this was recognised in the report. However, we know there is more to do to ensure our older adult mental health wards consistently meet the standards our patients deserve.
Since the inspection we have developed a comprehensive action plan to address all areas identified in the report. We have taken steps to enhance staff training, supervision and recruitment, which includes developing a bespoke risk training package. We have also strengthened governance, leadership visibility and monitoring across all wards.
“We are focussed on learning from this report and will take action to strengthen the care we provide.”