The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has today (11 June) published its report following the inspection of Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust early 2019.

The Trust is rated good for caring and responsive, and requires improvement for effective, safe and well-led, and its overall rating remains requires improvement.

Inspectors said that staff ‘were kind, respectful and compassionate’, that feedback from patients and families was ‘continually positive’, and that the Trust had a ‘positive culture that supported and valued staff’.  The report also recognises the Trust’s work to strengthen board level accountability for quality issues and to introduce a new approach to continuous quality improvement, and its collaborative working with partners to deliver high quality care for local communities.

The CQC inspected eight core services and the report reflects both these and findings from its previous inspection.   Across the Trust’s 14 core services, eight are rated good or outstanding, five are rated requires improvement and one is rated inadequate, but the report recognises the Trust’s rapid improvement activity to address the areas raised.   Thirteen services are rated outstanding or good for caring and 12 are rated outstanding or good for responsive.

The inspection report identifies reporting and learning from incidents, governance, safeguarding and risk management, as the key areas for improvement.

Brent Kilmurray, Chief Executive of Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The report acknowledges areas of outstanding practice including activity on our secure wards to better support patient’s recovery, innovative work in our mental health crisis service, and initiatives in our end of life care for hard to reach groups.  It also rightly recognises that our staff are kind and compassionate and the Trust’s positive, values-based culture.

“The CQC also identified important areas for improvement and we acted quickly to address these.  This work continues as we embed a Trust-wide approach to continuous quality improvement, with robust audits at every level, to ensure we’re on track. Reviewing key systems and processes will give additional oversight and assurance, and further strengthen this approach.”