Source: BBC News, 01/02/2024
Here is a useful summary from the BBC of the main findings of the recently published independent report into GMMH and Edenfield.
The report outlines a series of recommendations for the trust, which include ensuring patient, family and staff voices are heard “at every level” and creating a culture where quality of care is the “utmost priority”.
Other recommendations include a call to adapt to problems caused by staff shortages, to address the poor state of some building, and for a review into oversight to “prevent tragedies like those seen at Edenfield from reoccurring”.
The independent report, led by Prof Oliver Shanley OBE, found the trust repeatedly missed opportunities to act on concerns, alongside a culture of “suppressing bad news”.
It found the Panorama broadcast exposed the “most shocking abuse and poor care” of vulnerable patients, and that concerns raised by families were “not always taken seriously”.
It added that in some services, patients had been denied “basic dignity and their human rights”.
During the Panorama investigation, staff were filmed using restraint inappropriately and swearing at and slapping patients, while some of those being cared for endured long seclusions in small, bare rooms.
More than 400 people shared their experiences with the review, which found a “striking level of distress among patients, families, and staff”.
The report heard from a patient’s family member who tried to raise issues but was ignored.
“The trust seem like they are firefighting and walking from room to room with fire, and petrol already in the room, smoking a cigarette,” they said.
The report found several key reasons why the abuse and poor care of patients took place, including:
- Patient, family and carer concerns were ignored or not taken seriously
- Staff levels were unsafe, with a high use of temporary workers
- A poor leadership culture, low staff morale, and a lack of transparency
- Some staff described being treated unfairly because of a protected characteristic.
A number of leaders at the trust were said to have “lacked compassion and empathy”, with senior managers fostering “a culture of fear and intimidation” among staff to “maintain performance standards”.
The board of the trust had focused on “expansion, reputation and meeting operational targets” rather than the quality of care given to patients, the report found.
A very good investigation – I was involved with and also feature in the BBC article – worth noting that even CQC and NHS England are identified as having to improve processes