North East NHS mental health and disability care provider retains ‘Outstanding’ rating

Posted: 26/07/18

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW) has again been rated as ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) after visits to services in April and May 2018.

The independent regulator of health and adult social care in England this week published its latest findings in a report which rated NTW as ‘Outstanding’; the best possible outcome. The quality of care provided across all of the individual core services is rated either ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’.

Nationally, NTW remains one of only two NHS providers of mental health and disability services to receive an “Outstanding” rating. The CQC looked at the management and leadership of the Trust and inspected four core mental health services:

  • Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units
  • Wards for older people with mental health problems
  • Child and adolescent mental health wards
  • Specialist community mental health services for children and young people

Key achievements include new “Outstanding” ratings for child and adolescent health wards overall, and also for the “Caring” element of wards for older people with mental health problems.

NTW Chief Executive John Lawlor said: “I am delighted that the contribution our staff make to the lives of those we serve has again been recognised by this ‘Outstanding’ inspection report, and I am particularly pleased that those areas for improvement previously identified by the CQC in 2016 had increased in quality. We are very proud of our professional, dedicated and caring staff and how they strive to continuously improve services for service users, their family members and carers.

“We will ensure that we make every effort to address the areas for improvement identified by the CQC. We know we are not perfect. But retaining the “Outstanding” rating shows that we are making real progress in our organisational aim to be a leader in the delivery of high quality care and a champion for those we serve.”

Having had the privilege of being Chair of NTW for six months and getting to know service users, carers, staff, members and governors, I believe that the “Outstanding” rating is richly deserved and I would like to sincerely thank everybody who has worked so hard to make this possible

Ken JarroldChair, NTW

The inspection reports are available from the CQC website at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RX4