NHS mental health clinic requires improvement

NHS mental health provision in Birmingham still requires improvement, inspectors said.

Some staff at the Reaside Clinic, a mental health clinic in Rednal, had not received all the appropriate and necessary training, a report from the Care Quality Commision said, and staff did not always involve patients in assessing their needs.

The overall rating for Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust was requires improvement.

However, the trust was judged to be good for being caring, well-led and responsive. The CQC said bosses needed to do more work to ensure patients received safe and effective care that met their needs.

The inspection team visited the medium secure unit to check up on improvements the trust was told to make at a previous inspection.

The clinic provides assessment, treatment and rehabilitation to people with severe mental health problems across seven wards.

Inspectors said there had been some improvements which meant the service was no longer in breach of regulations related to governance and oversight, but inspectors found two further breaches of regulations during their inspection in February.

There related to person-centred care and qualified staffing, they said.

The inspection team also visited the forensic intensive recovery and support teams (FIRST) following a serious incident which the trust had reported.

Overall, the forensic service - and the ratings for how safe and effective the service was - was found to require improvement.

Amanda Lyndon, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said people had a mixed experiences of receiving care and treatment at Reaside.

"Some people told us that staff weren't always kind and caring," she said.

"However, people felt safe on the wards and knew who to speak to if they had any concerns."

She said inspectors were told staff had cancelled some escorted leave outside of the unit due to low staffing levels, and that staff were sometimes too busy to support people.

She said they were told there were fewer activities on one ward following the departure of an activity worker, but that the trust had said it had plans to address this.

"Leaders at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS need to focus on improving the effectiveness of people's care by making sure their individual needs are taken into account," she said.

"There are many positive findings at FIRST they can look to emulate at Reaside, and build on to make care consistently safer for people at all services."

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