BOLTON’S mental health provider has been rated as good ­— but has been told its safety services still require improvement.

Bosses at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Trust ­— which runs mental health wards ­in Bolton — welcomed the rating but said they recognised they still had work to do around safety.

Just last week a coroner criticised the trust after builder Daniel Moran took his own life after being allowed to leave one of the Bolton units.

Inspectors said not all patients in community-based mental health services for adults of working age had a current risk assessment in place.

Emergency equipment for children and young people had not been serviced in community specialist mental health services, and incident report when safeguarding referrals had not been made.

However, the service had adequate staffing, and had good knowledge of patients, treating them with compassion, kindness, and respecting their privacy and dignity.

Despite requiring improvement, the safety services at the trust have in fact got better since the previous inspection when they were rated as 'inadequate'.

The CQC said that the cleanliness, maintenance and infection control of the wards and general environment was good.

Inspectors said overall, patients received a range of care and treatment based on national guidance and best practice from staff who had the range of skills needed to provide high quality care. The CQC also commented the high level of research activity taking place.

They further stated, the vision of the Trust was upheld, the senior leadership team ensured high quality, with staff carrying out responsibilities according to the Mental Health Act 1983 and Mental Health Act Code of Practice.

Neil Thwaite, chief executive of the trust said: “We are extremely pleased that we have maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.

“During their inspection, the CQC team noted many positives which we are rightly proud of. They noted that staff treat patients with compassion and kindness, and respect their privacy and dignity. They recognise that staff involve service users in care planning and risk assessment and that we actively seek feedback on the quality of care provided. As co-production is at the heart of our approach to care, we are extremely pleased that the CQC recognised this.

“The CQC also commented that we engage constructively with staff and that we have an open and transparent culture where staff are encouraged to raise concerns and feel able to do so. It is vitally important that we continue to improve our services for all of our service users and our working environments for staff, so the fact that staff feel able to speak up is extremely reassuring.

“We were also really pleased to see our research work being commended. The CQC commented on the high level of research activity taking place and our aim for services to be academically informed.

"The CQC highlighted a number of areas of ‘outstanding’ practice, including our Safewards programme and our new mental health service for Greater Manchester University students.

“As anticipated, we have further work to do in the ‘safe’ domain where we received a rating of ‘requires improvement’. The dormitory-style accommodation of Park House was identified as an area for improvement, as were waiting times in CAMHS and risk assessments within adult community services.

"With the implementation of our new five-year strategy and our quality improvement agenda, we will be able to build on this foundation and improve our services even more.”