NHS trust urged to heed patients’ complaints amid fears over safety
FAILINGS IN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES DISCUSSED
A HEALTHCARE trust criticised for its mental health services has been urged by councillors to listen to patients’ complaints.
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust did not always keep patients and the public safe, a review by watchdog the Care Quality Commission found last month.
The trust treats some of the county’s most vulnerable patients, but the CQC said they faced long waiting lists, a lack of inpatient beds and difficulty accessing crisis care.
The Government ordered a rapid review after the conviction of triple killer Valdo Calocane, whom the trust had treated previously.
Members of the Nottingham City Council healthcare committee this week told senior figures at the trust they should have heard patients’ concerns before the CQC inspection.
Councillor Georgia Power (Lab) said: “It wasn’t a surprise because we have heard all the things the CQC raised time and again from patients. If we’ve heard them, you absolutely have.
“If complaints had been dealt with, we wouldn’t have got to this point.”
She read a list of reports previously sent by coroners to the trust called Prevention of Future Death Notices, which had recommended that improvements were made.
One report was issued after the death of Alexander Lyalushko, a man with anxiety and depression, whose GP requested he was seen by local mental health services. The trust did not respond to the request for reasons which have not been explained, and he took his life just over a month later in January 2023.
Another report into the death of Michelle Whitehead, 45, in 2021, painted “a very worrying picture” of care at the Millbrook Mental Health Unit in Sutton-in-ashfield.
Although the cause of the brain damage which led to her death was not established, the trust admitted there was a medication error with sedative, and staff were delayed in noticing she had lost consciousness. The trust has previously apologised and promised to learn from these tragedies.
Councillor Maria Joannou (Lab) told the committee there needed to be a “complete change of culture” at the trust, and there was “a disconnect between top leaders and users”.
She told senior trust figures: “You need to start listening a lot more to what users are saying.”
Diane Hull, the executive director of nursing, of the Allied Health Partnerships and Quality, apologised for the trust’s failings. “The people of Nottingham deserve good quality mental healthcare with compassion and kindness – that hasn’t been consistently carried out.”
She said the trust welcomed all complaints to learn from its failings, and added: “We are listening to our biggest critics.”
The CQC review also raised concerns about Rampton Hospital, a secure Nottinghamshire psychiatric hospital run by the trust.
A third part of the review into the care available to Valdo Calocane will be published in the summer. The trust’s overall rating is suspended while the full review is completed.