The latest watchdog inspection graded the Leicestershire mental health service as ‘requires improvement’
The trust has centres around the county, including the Bradgate Unit at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester(Image: Google)
Long waits for mental health care, which were averaging 133 days in May last year, could have harmed patients in Leicestershire, inspectors have warned.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated community-based mental health services for adults of working age in Leicestershire as “requires improvement” following an inspection last May.
The service’s waiting lists were long, and in one community mental health team people waited 599 days on average to start psychology sessions.
And there were 718 people who were supposed to be receiving care whom the adult community mental health service hadn’t seen in the past 12 months.
Ceri Morris-Williams, CQC deputy director of mental health in the Midlands, said: “Some people waited a long time to receive the outpatient appointments they needed, which could potentially have had negative effects on their mental health.”
The trust operates seven community mental health teams across Leicestershire and Rutland, with inspectors visiting various sites as part of the inspection.
The CQC issued a warning notice following the inspection to highlight improvements needed to reduce the time people waited for appointments.
In response to the inspection, Angela Hillery, chief executive of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, said the average waiting times had been reduced from 133 days in May last year to just 71 days currently.
She said: “We welcome the report and will use it to continue building on the improvements we have been making.
“We agree that our mental health outpatient waiting times need to improve and, since the inspection, we have already significantly reduced the average wait for all outpatients from 133 days to 71 days.
“And although consultant shortages are a national issue, we have successfully appointed two new consultant psychiatrists and three more acting consultants.
Angela Hillery, chief executive of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust(Image: )
“Whilst the overall rating has remained at ‘requires improvement’, I am encouraged that our ongoing improvements have been recognised with a ‘good’ rating in three of the five domains that the CQC uses to make its assessment – safe, effective and caring – compared to two out of five when they last inspected adult community mental health services.
“The CQC recognised many areas of high standards and have evidenced that most service users they interviewed ‘spoke positively about the service and the staff. People described feeling safe and supported and having good relationships with staff.’
“I am proud that they recognised that our staff treated patients with kindness, empathy and compassion. We are committed to ensuring good outcomes for all those requiring support from our services.”