North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust has been given an official warning about community mental health services for young people, after inspectors found there were not enough staff to provide quality care.
The trust’s child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) community provision was rated “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection of all core services in September last year. Inspectors found staffing levels in community CAMHS were “not safe” because of staffing shortages in various disciplines, including nursing, with “excessively long” waits for treatment.
“There were not enough consultant psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, or therapists,” said the CQC report. “We found staff on maternity or long-term sick leave were not replaced by temporary staff.”
Inspectors also found risk assessments of young clients were not always completed or safety plans put in place.
Full story in Nursing Times 23 March 2016