THE NHS Trust which runs Parklands Hospital has been told that it ‘requires improvement’ by a health watchdog.

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust was subject to an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in October last year, and its findings have been published this morning.

A team of CQC inspectors spent four days at facilities run by the trust, including Parklands Hospital, in Aldermaston Road, speaking to staff, patients and visitors.

Their report makes a number of recommendations on how Parklands Hospital could improve.

It advises: “The trust should ensure that where CCTV cameras are used in communal areas and on individual wards at Parklands Hospital that people using the service are informed of this.

“The trust should ensure environmental risk assessments of the acute wards at Parklands Hospital are completed clearly, action taken to remove risks, and a record made of arrangements in place to manage or mitigate risks.

“The trust should ensure at Parklands Hospital that the dirty utility facilities, such as sluice sink and disposable bed pan macerator, are not in the laundry room where people’s clothing is washed, because of the risk of cross contamination.”

The report also highlighted patients concerns and frustrations that a telephone number, given to patients wishing to access services, was rarely answered.

Hawthorns Ward at Parklands has one of the highest number of readmissions across the trust and the hospital’s Beechwood Ward was the only highlighted as consistently reporting a low fill rate over a three-month period.

However, the hospital was praised for employing a peer support worker.

Overall, the trust was criticised for a lack of consistency. While some community health and mental health services were praised, inspectors found a significant variation in the quality of services.

The numbers of staff on some mental health wards was also raised as a concern, as was the fact that staff often work longer than their contracted hours to deliver care to patients.

Inspectors praised staff in the report, describing them as largely “kind, sensitive and caring staff, who were passionate about their work and committed to delivering high quality care.”

Dr Paul Lelliott, deputy chief inspector of hospitals at the CQC, said: “Although we found a number of specific problems that must be put right, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust provides some good and even some outstanding services to a large population. “The trust has told us they have listened to our inspectors’ findings and already begun to take action.

“I would hope that when we return to re-inspect in due course we will find that those changes have been embedded further alongside the improvements that we have identified.”

Katrina Percy, Chief Executive of Southern Health said, “We welcome this report from the CQC, which is an invaluable opportunity for us to reflect on detailed feedback on our services. In every part of the report, the recurring theme is the caring and responsive approach of staff towards patients. This is something I see in our staff every day, and it is reassuring and affirming to see this care recognised by the CQC.

“There were a number of areas of practice highlighted as good within the report, and also areas of best practice and innovation, such as the peer review programme that is active throughout the Trust, and I am delighted to see staff recognised for their efforts here.

“The report also highlighted a number of areas for improvement, which we have already begun to address. We know that there will always be things we can learn from and ways we can make our services better, and we are working closely with staff, commissioners and partners to make progress.

“This is a challenging time for the health service nationally, and our work with colleagues in primary and social care will transform traditional care services for the future.”

The trust has pledged to "identify and resolve problems" around answering phones at Parklands and to put signage up about CCTV being in use. The staffing levels at Beechward Ward, at Parklands, has already been improved, the trust said.