Outstanding rating for Dorset NHS Trust

Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust has seen its Care Quality Commission rating upgraded to Outstanding, the first mental health trust providing community services in the South to do so.

Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust provides health and social care, including mental health and other specialist services, to 700,000 people across the county of Dorset. More than half of the trust’s services are provided in the community, in people’s homes, clinics and schools.

Following an inspection in April, the CQC reports that the trust is now rated Outstanding overall for the quality of its services, whilst also being rated Outstanding for being caring and well-led and Good for being safe, effective and responsive.

As recently as 2017, inspectors raised concerns around the lack of safeguarding training and the high level of physical restraint. Now, the CQC found that staff were assessing and managing risks to patients and themselves well. Staff were providing a good balance between keeping people safe and providing the least restrictive environment possible to help patients’ recovery, and followed best practice in anticipating, de-escalating and managing challenging behaviour.

Furthermore, inspectors found the trust board were providing inspirational, leadership. They demonstrated that they were progressive, cohesive and innovative with a clear purpose.

Eugine Yafele, chief executive of the trust, said: “This is a fantastic achievement, and a testament to our staff’s hard work, dedication and relentless focus on quality improvement over the past few years. Organisations do not provide outstanding care – people do. Therefore, this rating reflects our collective effort and determination to deliver the very best outcomes and experiences for our patients, their families and friends.

“Most importantly, this is great news for our patients and service users. It will help increase public confidence in what we do across all our services and sites. However, we are not complacent; nor do I believe that we are at the limits of the improvements that need to be made across our trust. We know we can always improve what we do and, ultimately, would want to see all our services rated as outstanding. That is our next challenge, and we are fully committed to meeting it.”

Paul Lelliott, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: “In June 2015, when we first inspected Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust, using our new approach, we rated the trust as Requires Improvement.  Since then, the trust has worked steadily to improve the quality of its services. Their determination to develop a culture of continuous improvement has significantly improved the care they provide for their patients.  This is reflected in the overall rating having moved to Outstanding.

“Staff spoke positively about the patient journey and the striving for continual improvement with all staff working effectively as a team, in a coordinated way and in partnership with patients to ensure safe, high quality care. I am delighted at this achievement which is a credit to all of the trust’s staff. Their hard work is making a real difference to the lives of people using the services.”