CQC praise NSFT staff as older adult wards rated ‘good’ | News and events

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s (NSFT) older adult inpatient services as ‘good’ while praising their “kind, compassionate and empathetic” staff. 

The Trust received the ‘good’ overall rating, together with ‘good’ ratings in all five separate domains, following an inspection earlier this year.

The ratings are a significant improvement from the service’s last inspection, which took place in 2022 with the subsequent report published in 2023. In that report, the service was rated as ‘inadequate’ in the ‘safe’ domain and ‘good’ for ‘effective’ and ‘responsive’, but was not given an overall rating as the CQC did not inspect the ‘caring’ or ‘well-led’ domains.

However, in their most recent report, CQC inspectors have highlighted a wide range of good practice, including:  

• Staff treat people with compassion, empathy and kindness, and know and understand the service users they are supporting. 
• Feedback from service users is really positive, with 84% describing their care as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
• The interactions staff have with service users are respectful and responsive, while they also provide help, emotional support and advice.
• Staff know how to report incidents and respond promptly when issues do occur while also sharing any learning. 
• Staff are focused on improving people’s lives and providing safe, supportive care which meets their needs.
• Wards are spacious, clean, well-maintained, well-furnished and fit-for-purpose and meet dementia friendly guidance.
• Have the right qualifications, skills and experience and receive effective support, supervision and development. They work well together to provide care which meets people’s individual needs.
• Staff work with service users to develop care plans which are personalised, holistic and recovery-focused, and make sure they have as much choice as possible about their own care. 
• A wide range of age-appropriate activities are provided on the wards, including walking and gardening, while music, crochet, knit and natter groups and singalongs also regularly take place.
• Staff told inspectors their morale is good, they enjoy working for the Trust and receive effective support from colleagues and managers.

Cath Byford, Chief Patient Experience Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer at NSFT, said: “We are really proud of this positive report, which highlights a huge range of good practice which is in place across our older adult wards. It rightly recognises the high quality, compassionate and person-centred care which is delivered each day by our hard-working staff, who are dedicated to delivering safer, kinder and better services across Norfolk and Suffolk.  

“The results of the inspection show we have made considerable progress since the CQC’s last visit to our older adult inpatient services. This illustrates our far-ranging work to drive significant improvements across the Trust is having a positive impact.”

NSFT’s Deputy Chair, Lindsey Hoy said: “The staff in our older adult inpatient service should be proud of this hugely positive report, which shows the care they are delivering is safe, effective and kind. My thanks go to them all. 

“As always, we know that there is still more work to do across the Trust and there are areas for improvement in the report. We will continue to work hard to ensure the high standards highlighted in this report are replicated in all of the services we provide across Norfolk and Suffolk.”

To view the full report, visit Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust - Overview - Care Quality Commission