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Newsletter Our monthly update for everyone interested in health and social care |
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 Share for better care: Our new campaign Share for care is the new campaign to encourage people whose voices are seldom heard to share their care experiences with us. We know that people whose voices are seldom heard are often more likely to experience poorer care and inequalities. The campaign aims to support the voice of people using care services. Feedback about care is valuable to us as it helps us see where and how services can improve. The campaign is being led by us and Healthwatch England. It's supported by other partners, including the Race Equality Foundation, National Dignity Council, Royal Association for Deaf people, National Voices, Challenging Behaviour Foundation, Patients Association, VoiceAbility and Disability Rights UK. If you're an organisation or charity that can help us promote the benefit of giving feedback on care experiences, we've put together a campaign toolkit full of materials you can use. |
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 CQC warns that children and young people are being failed by mental health services Our 2022/23 Monitoring the Mental Health Act report, published this month, warns that long waits, inappropriate accommodation, and lack of local support mean children and young people are being failed by mental health services. The report also finds that longstanding inequalities in mental health care persist. People from ethnic minority communities are more likely to experience mental illness, but are less likely to receive the mental health care support they need. Monitoring the Mental Health Act is our annual report on the use of the Mental Health Act (MHA). It looks at how providers are caring for patients, and whether patients' rights are being protected. This year's report found that: - Workforce retention and staffing shortages remain one of the greatest challenges for the mental health sector, affecting the quality of care and the safety of both patients and staff.
- Longstanding inequalities in mental health care persist. More work is needed to address the over-representation of Black people detained under the MHA and to prevent prolonged detention in hospital for people who need specialist support.
- Despite additional investment, rising demand and a lack of community support means that children and young people face long waits for mental health support, and a lack of specialist beds means they continue to be cared for in inappropriate environments.
- While we have seen improvements around person centred care and positive cultures in some areas, there is still significant work to be done to reduce restrictive practices.
- It is promising that people, including staff, are aware of the drivers that can lead to a closed culture developing. But we are still concerned that too many abusive and closed cultures persist in mental health services.
In 2022/23, we carried out 860 MHA monitoring visits. We spoke with 4,515 patients (3,410 in private interviews and 1,105 in more informal situations) and 1,200 carers. We also spoke with advocates and ward staff. |
 Join us! Work for CQC CQC staff have a wide range of skills and work across many disciplines. Find out about roles within CQC, Healthwatch England and the Office of the National Guardian. Current vacancies include: - Director of Legal Services
- Second Opinion Appointed Doctor (SOAD)
- Records Management & Information Governance Manager (Human Tissue Authority)
Benefits include generous leave entitlement, NHS or Nest pension schemes and a wide range of employee discounts. Most roles offer flexible locations with the choice to be home-based. See the individual job listings for more information. |
 Our review of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust published We have published our assessments of patient safety and quality of care provided by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT), and of progress made at Rampton Hospital since our most recent inspection. We were asked to carry out this work by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care following the conviction of Valdo Calocane for the killings of Ian Coates, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber. The review published today draws on information gathered from visits to NHFT, personal experiences from people who use services and their families and carers, and information including survey data and prevention of future deaths reports. The review’s findings and recommendations also take into account findings from our inspection activity at NHFT and Rampton Hospital and our wider oversight of the challenges facing mental health services. As part of this work, we will also be publishing a review of the available evidence related to the care of Valdo Calocane in the summer. |
 Tell us about your experience of maternity care Our next maternity survey is happening soon. The survey is carried out every year and helps us understand people's experience of maternity care. If you had a live birth in February 2024, you could be sent a letter from the NHS hospital trust where you received your maternity care telling you how you can take part in the survey. Taking part is voluntary and all answers are confidential and anonymous. We'd like to hear from as many people as possible. We use what you tell us to build an understanding of the quality of local maternity services. This helps us see where we need to follow up on any concerns. Hospital trusts use the results to make changes to improve the experience of people who use their maternity service in the future. |
 Helping mental health trusts and service provider tackle inequalities Chris Dzikiti, our Director for Mental Health, has written a blog about NHS England’s Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework. The framework is the first anti-racism framework for mental health trusts and mental health service providers which sets out to improve access, experience and outcomes for people from ethnic minority groups. The blog looks at how the framework will help to tackle racial inequalities and injustice. |
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