Chief Executive Tracy Dowling (pictured) welcomed the report and praised the hard work of staff at CPFT. The Trust provides mental health and community health care and employs more than 4,000 people.
Tracy said: “We are pleased that the Trust has again been declared as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission, maintaining the rating awarded to us in 2015. It is a testament to the hard work and commitment of every member of staff who works for this Trust.
“Patients are at the very centre of everything we do, and the report notes the many areas in which there is good and outstanding practice. The report also helpfully identifies areas for improvement and we are fully committed to addressing each and every one of these recommendations.
“Overall, we continue to look for ways to improve the support we offer to patients, service-users and carers and it remains our ambition to ensure all of our services move to ‘outstanding’.”
The inspection took place over the spring and the overall summary of the report highlighted:
- Positive feedback from patients, families and carers about their care and treatment
- Patients told inspectors they felt safe across the Trust
- Positive emotional support was offered to patients
- The Trust promotes a “person-centred culture” with staff involving patients and those close them as “partners in their care and treatment”
- Trust staff working well with each other and partner organisations in the local health system
- Management across the Trust was “strong, visible and effective” with executive directors providing “inspirational leadership” and the Trust’s Board encouraging feedback from all levels of the organisation.
The report also noted a number of areas of “outstanding practice” which included the effectiveness of care at the Trust’s child and adolescent mental health wards, the care given by the community health inpatient services, and innovative measures put in place by staff for the benefit of patients including the development of new clinics and the use of technology.
The CQC arrived at its overall rating after giving an individual rating to the following questions it asks: are services effective? (CPFT rated good); are services caring? (good); are services responsive to people’s needs (good); are services well-led (good). In answer to the question, are services safe? CPFT was told they ‘require improvement’.
Tracy said: “We are grateful for the comments of the CQC inspectors and also how they have recognised the work that has been in place for some time to address those issues. We have more to do in community children’s mental health services where demand for services remains high, and on our older people’s mental health wards where recommendations to improve care have been made by the CQC.
“We are always looking to improve the safety of our services and appreciate the learning about improvements that the CQC was able to share with us. It inspects every Trust in the country and brings the good practice it sees elsewhere.
“We have already begun to implement the recommendations made by the CQC and have a clear action plan in place.”
The CQC inspection took place between Tuesday, 13March and Thursday 15 March. During the inspection, representatives from the CQC examined a range of mental health and community care services provided by the Trust. They spoke to more than 80 patients, 40 carers and family members, and more than 250 staff. The Well-Led part of the inspection, where the leadership of the Trust was examined, took place in April. This is the first time the Trust has had its adult community services included in a CQC inspection, since it began delivering the services in 2015.
CPFT Chair Julie Spence said: “I would like to congratulate all colleagues for their hard work in ensuring we retained our ‘good’ rating, particularly as it was against new inspection standards. That said we must pay heed to the CQCs feedback and observations and tighten up on our day-to-day service standards to ensure we always deliver safe consistent care to patients in our wards and community settings.
“This will enable us to consolidate our rating and continue to move forward. We already have some great examples of outstanding initiatives and our challenge is to ensure this permeates all parts of the organisation.”
About Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) is a health and social care organisation, providing integrated community, mental health and learning disability services, across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and children’s community services in Peterborough.We support a population of just under a million people and employ nearly 4,000 staff. Our largest bases are at the Cavell Centre, Peterborough, and Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge, but our staff are based in over 90 locations. We are a University of Cambridge Teaching Trust and member of Cambridge University Health Partners, working together with the University of Cambridge Clinical School.