The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published two reports on services run by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) in Leicestershire and Rutland following inspections of two of its 15 core services in January 2024.

Both inspections were unannounced, one was focused on community health services for adults and the other were on acute mental health wards for working age adults and psychiatric intensive care units. Both core services saw improvements from previous inspections.

A spokesperson said: "We are pleased to share that, following this inspection, community health services for adults have been re-rated good overall. This inspection covered the Safe, Effective and Well-led domains. The Well-led domain has improved from requires improvement to good and Safe and Well-led remained good. Responsive and caring were not included in this inspection and remain rated as good.

"The rating for our acute mental health wards for working age adults and psychiatric intensive care units has again been rated as requires improvement overall. All domains were inspected with Responsive re-rated as good, and both Effective and Caring have improved from requires improvement to good."

The overall rating for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust remains as requires improvement because other core services would need to be inspected to change this rating.  

Angela Hillery, chief executive of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, said: "Quality and safety remain our number one priority and we are aware we still have more to do. I am encouraged that our ongoing improvements have been recognised and it is pleasing that both inspections evidenced improvements. These are significant achievements and I want to thank all staff involved.

"However, the inspection team assessed that acute mental health ward environments were 'not always safe, clean, well maintained and fit for purpose'. We took immediate action in response to the concerns raised and have put in place a robust plan to monitor these. Mandatory training rates have also improved significantly since the inspection and are now at over 85% across nearly all areas." 

Anne Scott, chief nurse at LPT, said: "I am so proud that our staff have been recognised as caring and compassionate by the CQC inspectors. In both reports there are numerous examples of good practice involving patients and carers, of our commitment to the delivery of quality care and continuous quality improvement, career progression and equality, diversity and inclusion, and of how supported staff feel in raising any concerns they may have. This reflects the significant improvements we have made in our culture and leadership, which we will continue to build upon.

"The CQC noted the acute mental health service's high vacancy rates for registered nurses and that staff compliance against mandatory training was variable. Although nursing shortages are a national issue, we have undertaken a significant recruitment campaign since the inspection and have 37 new nurses who have already started or ready to start. 

"I am also really pleased that the reports reflect our active role with partner organisations to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland."

The reports have been published online.

View the report for community health services for adults here, and the report for acute mental health wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units here.