Northamptonshire NHS provider rated outstanding for a second time

Staff at NHFT are celebrating after receiving their results this week.

During September-October this year the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected NHFT services and found they were well-led and caring, giving the highest rating possible of outstanding overall.

The trust provides a variety of mental health and community health services across Northamptonshire for adults of working age and older adults at 25 locations.

This comes as a watchdog report, published on December 17, highlights how staff supported a patient to take their university exam in hospital and how their idea of crisis cafes have reduced the number of admissions into mental health wards and A&E.

The CQC highlighted that the trust continued to deliver 'high quality, safe services across the five mental health services inspected' and there was a 'strong focus on patient and staff safety as a priority agenda'.

While the service has been commended by the health watchdog - there are improvements to be made, including how the trust should ensure that care records accurately reflect the chosen name and preferred pronoun for transgender patients and how medicines must be administered within their expiry date.

Angela Hillery, chief executive at NHFT and her staff, were commended by the inspector who said 'leaders had an inspiring shared purpose and strived to deliver and motivate staff to succeed'.

Angela said: “We are delighted to have maintained our outstanding rating for a second year.

"The rating and the comments in the CQC inspection report really reflect how dedicated our 4,500 colleagues across adult and children’s services, mental health and corporate services are to providing outstanding, compassionate care each and every day.

“This is great news for everyone living in Northamptonshire and for our countywide health and care system. Looking ahead to 2020, this outcome puts us on a good footing as we continue to work ever closer with our partners for the benefit of the communities we serve.

“While we are incredibly proud of this result, the CQC also highlighted areas for improvement. We welcome this opportunity for learning and we are committed to continuous improvement and patient safety. As such focus on the areas highlighted has naturally commenced.”