Report: "Not enough staff" in mental health services

AN inspection of community mental health services in the Bristol area found there were not enough skilled staff to support patients.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP) was not meeting four of the five required standards during the routine inspection of 11 community teams across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and North Wiltshire in June.
They reported that there were "insufficient qualified, skilled experienced staff to meet people's needs, with 12 vacancies in Bristol's intensive service for mental health patients.
The health watchdog reported "serious concerns" about the safeguarding of service users to Bristol City Council after discovering a significant number of people served by the north Bristol recovery team had not been allocated a care co-ordinator following the reorganisation of the service.
Inspectors from the CQC found that people using the trust's community service had not been well informed about changes that were being made and the effect they might have on the care and treatment.
Concerns were also raised about incomplete care records, which lacked important detail and risk assessments and were found not to reflect people's views and preferences.
The report said that the mental health trust was not meeting standards for privacy and dignity.
The trust was found to be meeting standards for ensuring people were protected from abuse and respecting their human rights.
All concerns raised by the CQC about AWP were found to be moderate and the trust has compiled an action plan to show how they will respond to the issues.
A spokesman for the trust said that the redesign of services is almost complete and that staffing vacancies are being covered by temporary staff until permanent appointments have been made.
He said the trust had identified the issues reported to Bristol City Council's safeguarding team prior to the CQC's visit and had taken action to resolve the concerns.
"Some of the problems were exacerbated by initial difficulties in recruiting permanent staff with the right skills but in recent weeks more than 30 people have been recruited and more are in the pipeline, reducing reliance on temporary staff," he said.
"We recognise that any major change is unsettling which is why we have done our best to support service users, carers and staff through the transition from the old to the new service.
"We are confident that we have the right actions in place to deal with the issues highlighted in the CQC report and are confident that when we are next inspected these moderate concerns will no longer exist."
Another report into AWP services published by the CQC following their routine inspection of Callington Road Hospital in Brislington found it was meeting all the essential standards.

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