Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust

We saw that the seclusion rooms on the acute wards and the 136 suite did not meet all of the requirements of the MHA Code of Practice in relation to providing a safe environment for the management of patients presenting as a risk to others. We identified a number of ligature points in all of the inpatient areas. There was evidence to show that ligature points were being managed by the trust in the low secure wards, the learning disabilities service, rehabilitation wards and the older people’s wards at Grenoside Grange. However It was not always clear that ligature risks were being fully mitigated in the acute admission and PICU wards. The inspection team also identified ligature risks that had not been identified by the trust on the acute inpatient wards Stanage and Burbage. We found there was inconsistent qualified staffing cover at the rehabilitation wards at Forest Close. Often there were two qualified staff working across three wards which left two unqualified staff on duty on one of the wards. There were also inconsistencies with regards to the level of junior doctor support across the wards. Staff working in the ward area told us that the junior doctors focussed on patient needs. This meant they spent less time on the wards where patients had less complex needs. The resource of staffing at night time to manage the out of hours and crisis demands meant that out of hours provision was not fully safe or responsive to people’s needs. We looked at compliance with Department of Health guidance on same sex accommodation (SSA) and the Mental Health Act (MHA) Code of Practice (CoP) throughout the inpatient services. We found compliance with SSA with the exception of the rehabilitation wards at 1a and 3 Forest Close.