[C]hildren’s community services at Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) have been recognised for providing high quality patient care, improved waiting times and collaborative working with partners in its latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection published today.
In January 2017, the CQC undertook an unannounced inspection of the Trust’s community health services for children and young people. The visited services included:
- Health visitors
- School nurses
- Therapies
- Children’s nurses
- Community paediatrics
- Sexual Health
- Family Nurse Partnerships
The inspection has led to a significantly improved rating since the last CQC visit in November 2015 and has leaped from being rated as ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’ overall in all of the five areas assessed.
The following five domains were assessed and each was given a separate rating:
Are services safe? Good (previously Inadequate in 2015)
Are services effective? Good (previously Requires Improvement in 2015)
Are services caring? Good
Are services responsive? Good (previously Requires Improvement in 2015)
Are services well-led? Good (previously Inadequate in 2015)
In addition, the report has highlighted outstanding practice for the Love Barrow Families initiative that has been designed to help improve how adult and child health services work together with social care services to achieve the best outcomes of the complex needs of vulnerable families in Barrow.
Clare Parker, Director of Quality and Nursing said: “It is fantastic news to see the children’s community services rated so highly and highlights the positive work that the children and families care group have achieved over the past year. I am delighted to see our brilliant staff commended for all their hard work and their commitment to improving the services for children, young people and their families in Cumbria.”
Joanne Hiley, Associate Director of Nursing for the Children’s and Families care group said: “Since our last inspection the Children and Families care group has been on a huge journey with our focus on improving safety, quality, effectiveness and building strong partnerships. The inspectors recognised the positive impact of the transformation of our supervision model, waiting time initiatives and leadership, alongside innovative projects like Love Barrow Families, which demonstrates how we place children and families at the heart of what we do.
“Despite the good judgement, we are ambitious about continuing to support our staff to deliver outstanding care. The hard work of our staff and support from our partners is exemplified in this CQC report and I’m really pleased that inspectors recognised the good services CPFT offer for children and young people in Cumbria”.
The CQC have stated that the following factors have led to the improved rating:
- Improved leadership, governance and culture have promoted the delivery of high quality person-centred care.
- Managers and staff have made significant improvements since 2015 and have a good oversight of risks and incidents that are monitored and reviewed regularly.
- Staff protected children and young people from avoidable harm and abuse, and followed appropriate processes and procedures to keep them safe.
- A robust safeguarding supervision model has been implemented to ensure that staff share best practice.
- Children, young people, and families felt staff communicated with them effectively and kept them involved and informed about care and treatment. Staff were praised for showing dignity and respect, and were kind and compassionate.
- Managers and staff had improved waiting times to ensure children and young people received the right care at the right time.
- Services for children and young people were organised to meet the needs of children and young people. Managers and healthcare professionals worked collaboratively with partner organisations and other agencies to ensure services provided choice, flexibility, and continuity of care.
Dr Raj Verma, Associate Medical Director for the Children’s and Families care group said: “I am really pleased with the overall ‘Good’ CQC rating. It is a great recognition of the hard work of our front line staff, who are committed to continuously improving our services and have taken challenges head on to make this possible. I firmly believe that our team will continue going from strength to strength in the future to demonstrate that they are on the journey of continuous improvement.”
Clare Parker, Director of Quality and Nursing added: “The positive improvements referenced in the report show a clear change in direction for our children’s community services and the transformation since the comprehensive inspection in 2015 is evident.
“We recognise we still have areas to improve further, particularly in relation to our 0-19 Universal Services which will be changing over the coming months. The new 0-19 services will align to provide safer and more effective care for all children in Cumbria, and will strengthen the provision for the most vulnerable children, young people and their families.”
Tim Farron MP said: “This improvement is a tribute to the care and dedication of our hardworking NHS staff. This has been a difficult time for our NHS, which have faced cuts and uncertainty, but the efforts of staff have turned around the fortunes of these vital services. This news will be welcomed by local people, and will make a real difference to those who rely on these services.”
