Children’s services rated ‘inadequate’ as trust remains ‘outstanding’

The children’s inpatient unit at an ‘outstanding’ mental health trust has been downgraded to ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), amid a surge in demand for its services.

The CQC previously rated child and adolescent mental health wards at Hertfordshire Partnership University Foundation Trust as “outstanding” in May 2019.

But after an inspection in November and December 2021, these services were downgraded to “inadequate” overall and for the key categories of safety and leadership.

Although inspecting a core service, the CQC said its visit was “not wide-ranging enough” to update overall trust ratings, so HPFT remains “outstanding” overall.

Teenagers aged from 13 to 18 and admitted to Forest House, a 16-bed unit in Radlett providing HPFT’s only inpatient service for children and adolescents, told CQC inspectors they felt “unsafe”, dissatisfied with their care, and had experienced bullying by fellow patients.

Leadership in the service had “significantly deteriorated” since previous inspections, CQC chiefs wrote in a report published today, and this was having a “knock-on effect in all areas of care being provided”.

Staff morale was low and access to clinical psychologists limited, with a reduced ability to provide therapeutic interventions, inspectors added.

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Source: HSJ, 30 March 2022