Mental Health Trust Still Inadequate Say Inspectors

Blood Found On Bathroom Wall In One Ward, Gaps Discovered In Patients' Medication Records And Concerns Over Staff Levels

-  JOSEPH TIMAN

GREATER Manchester's troubled mental health provider remains 'inadequate' following the latest inspections of its services.

Inspectors at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found several wards run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health (GMMH) Trust were unclean and poorly maintained, with some patients feeling 'unsafe Blood was found on the bathroom wall of one ward in Salford where toilets and sinks were described as 'dirty' while windows were boarded up and walls left unpainted at a unit in Urmston.

Gaps were found in medication records with one patient found to be taking an incorrect dose. Some patients also told inspectors about 'assaults' taking place on the wards, with staff not always intervening in conflicts or when others patients act aggressively.

It comes two years after a BBC Panorama programme exposed shocking abuse of patients taking place at the Edenfield Centre in Prestwich, run by GMMH.

The M.E.N. reported on other failures by the mental health trust in the years prior to the footage from Edenfield, which showed staff appearing to slap and pinch patients, as well as allegedly mocking, bullying and humiliating them.

The centre stopped taking new patients after the Panorama episode aired. That facility was not assessed during the latest inspections of the trust's estate.

During the unannounced visits, which took place from March to June of this year, 23 acute wards for adults and psychiatric intensive care units were inspected, alongside 10 long-stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for adults.