CQC rating upgrade for youth mental health wards
EPUTA mental health trust's wards for children and teenagers have had their rating improved by the health watchdog.
Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust's (EPUT) inpatient wards for young people were inspected in March, after having previously been rated as "requires improvement".
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it had raised the rating to "good" in how safe, responsive and well-led the service was, and had rated the children and adolescent wards as "good" overall.
Inspectors found medicines were being safely managed, staff were following trust policies, and young people's dignity and privacy was being respected.
EPUT's three wards for child and adolescent mental health, Poplar Unit, Larkwood and Longview, are at Poplar Unit in Rochford and The St Aubyn Centre in Colchester.
The CQC did find that a sensory room on Larkwood ward could not be used as carpet had been pulled up, and this had not been rectified between inspection visits.
During its previous inspection in 2022, the service was told to improve after issues were found with medicines, staff not following guidelines around use of mobile phones and young people's privacy and confidentiality not always being respected.
EPUT, which provides services to more than 100,000 patients at any one time, has an overall rating of "requires improvement".
The trust has been the subject of the UK's first public inquiry into mental health deaths, due to resume next month.
Do you have a story suggestion for Essex? Contact us below.
Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
