Southern Health: Scandal-hit trust must improve, inspectors say

A scandal-hit NHS trust where staff felt pressure to admit patients on to wards when it was unsafe must improve, inspectors have said.

Too few staff in some areas at Southern Health led to "low morale" and meant patients were "not always kept safe" or given "the required level of care".

Its Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating has fallen from good to requires improvement.

Trust chief executive Ron Shields said he was "disappointed" with the rating.

But he said staff were "encouraged" that inspectors had praised staff, its culture and senior leaders.

The CQC's report said it had "serious concerns" about safety on a ward for older people with mental health problems, but added staff had made urgent improvements to reduce the number of beds and increase staffing levels.

Inspectors also found several strategies had been paused during the Covid-19 pandemic, and there was "still work to do" to bring the trust's clinical strategy and its wider strategy together in a way "that set out the direction clearly".

During the inspection, it examined six of the trust's core services. It said two were good but four needed to improve.

The trust's leadership was found to be "stable and capable" and had "knowledge, integrity and experience to perform their roles".

The organisation was also found to have engaged well with patients, staff, equality groups, the public and local organisations.

Mr Shields said the trust's "phenomenal" staff had worked hard over the pandemic but had been left "incredibly stretched in some areas".

He said the trust was "responding" to staff pressures highlighted by the CQC.

"As can be seen from the report, the trust provides many good services and will continue to improve in those areas identified by the CQC," he added.

"We remain totally committed to providing the best possible care to our patients."

Last September, an inquiry found the trust, which provides mental health, physical health and learning disability services across Hampshire, needed "continuing reform" after past failures.

The independent review was held after failures were found to have led to five vulnerable patients - David West, Robert Small, Marion Munns, Edward Hartley and Jo Deering - dying between 2011 and 2015.

The first in a series of reports into Southern Health in 2015 revealed the trust failed to investigate hundreds of deaths. The scandal led to the chief executive and chairman at the time resigning.

The trust was also fined £2m due to failings in relation to two patients, including 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk who drowned in a bath following an epileptic seizure, while under the care of the trust in Oxfordshire - an area previously covered by the trust.

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