East London Foundation Trust retains ‘outstanding’ CQC rating
East Ham care centre, run by ELFT. Picture: ELFT - Credit: ELFT
An east London mental health trust has retained its ‘outstanding’ CQC rating.
The health watchdog awarded East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) — which operates in Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, the City of London, Bedfordshire and Luton — the top grade overall in a report published Tuesday.
Consistent ratings were maintained across all five assessment criteria. Care Quality Commission inspectors rated the trust ‘outstanding’ for being caring, well-led and responsive to people’s needs, and ‘good’ for being safe and effective.
“Recognition from the CQC is pleasing for us all but remains part of that improvement process and not an end,” said the trust’s chief executive, Dr Navina Evans.
She added: “An outstanding rating shows the hard work already taking place and that has to continue. We don’t always get things right and should always ask ourselves ‘what can we do better?’”
Inspectors visited three core mental health services at the trust in March and April: community mental health services for people with learning disabilities or autism, wards for people with learning disabilities or autism, and forensic inpatient or secure wards.
The trust’s management and leadership was also put under the microscope.
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ELFT, which caters to a population of 820,000 in east London, had addressed most of the areas improvements were needed from the last inspection two years ago, inspectors found.
Forensic inpatient or secure wards, now rated outstanding, made noteworthy improvement over this period, they added.
Staff in one practice, for example, encouraged patients to lead healthy lives by encouraging exercise, helping them by physically active and held group discussions with them about healthy eating.
The CQC praised the trust’s board, who were described as taking concerns raised seriously and fostering a “no blame culture”, willing to “learn when things went wrong”.
“We have identified some areas for further improvement in relation to completion of mandatory staff training, staff supervision and ensuring reviews of patient deaths are conducted in good time,” said the CQC’s mental health lead, Dr Paul Lelliott.
“We expect the trust to continue to work on these areas identified on behalf of their patients.”
