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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has identified a series of breaches in essential standards of quality and safety by Penn Hospital in Wolverhampton. 

A report published today highlights 10 areas of concern, which CQC says Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust must address.

CQC is due to review the trust’s action plan which sets out how the trust will address issues raised during the Commissions review.  CQC will consider this information and use it to plan the next steps.

Inspectors will return to the trust to review whether the necessary improvements have been made and to decide whether further action is required.

The review follows concerns raised by Mental Health Act Commissioners following their programme of unannounced visits to the hospital.

CQC inspectors visited the hospital on two separate occasions to review services. While on site CQC staff spoke to staff on wards, visitors and people using the mental health services. They also observed practice, reviewed records and discussed concerns with the chief executive and the director of mental health services. 

Their report identified concerns around involving people who use services, patients’ consent, care and welfare of people who use services, safeguarding, management of medicines, safety and suitability of premises, staffing levels, training, and record-keeping.

The inspectors’ main concern was with the trust’s systems for assessing and monitoring the quality of their services to manage risks to patients.  While the hospital had made plans to learn from serious incidents it has not shown substantial progress in improving practice and outcomes for patients.  

CQC inspectors continued to gather information to help inform decisions about compliance through internal and external meetings which followed on from the onsite inspections in July.

In July inspectors met with Mental Health Act Commissioner colleagues following a joint unannounced visit to Penn.  They discussed consistent areas of concerns which needed to be addressed as part of ongoing improvements at the hospital.

The regulator also met with the trust’s head of governance in August to discuss the steps taken to improve systems used to assess and monitor the quality of services and the handling of information associated with risks to patients.

Andrea Gordon, CQC West Midlands Regional Director, said that her staff would continue to keep the trust under close review.

She said: “While we have recognised a range of concerns, we have chosen not to use our formal enforcement powers at this stage.

“We have confidence in the current management team at the hospital to deliver the improvements required, and we shall be watching to ensure that they do.

“We want to support long term improvements. Since our initial inspection we have continued to work collaboratively and remain in dialogue with the hospital and partners such as the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority.

”We note that similar concerns have been raised before – and now they must be addressed as a priority.”

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Notes to editors

Penn Hospital is a community mental health inpatient hospital managed by Wolverhampton City PCT providing treatment to voluntary patients and people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983. There are four wards at the hospital, each supporting the needs for a specific client group.

Since 1 April 2009, the Mental Health Act Commissioners have been part of CQC.    Their role is to visit places where patients are detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 and review how services are provided. 

Today's report identified concerns with the following standards

• Respecting and involving people who use services
• Consent to care and treatment
• Care and welfare of people who use services
• Safeguarding people who use services
• Management of medicines
• Safety and suitability of premises
• Staffing
• Supporting workers
• Assessing and monitoring the quality of service provision
• Records.

• Download our latest Review of compliance on Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust

For further information please contact Nicola Stewart, Regional Communications Manager on 0121 600 5700.

Alternatively, the national press office can be contacted on 0207 448 9401 or on 07917 232 143 out of hours.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England. Our aim is to make sure that better care is provided for everyone, whether it is in hospital, in care homes, in people’s own homes, or anywhere else that care is provided. We also seek to protect the interests of people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act. We promote the rights and interests of people who use services and we have a wide range of enforcement powers to take action on their behalf if services are unacceptably poor.

We are introducing a new registration system that brings the NHS, independent healthcare and adult social care under a single set of essential standards of quality and safety for the first time. Registration is a legal licence to operate. We register health and adult social care services if they meet essential standards and we continuously monitor them to make sure they continue to do so as part of a dynamic system of regulation which places the views and experiences of people who use services at its centre.