We spoke with ten members of staff who worked in Furness community mental health team (CMHT, Duddon House) and these represented a cross section of professional disciplines that formed the multidisciplinary team. We reviewed the care records belonging to four patients who had been admitted to hospital from the community in the previous 12 months.

We found care and treatment was planned and delivered and patient’s needs had been assessed. We saw appropriate care plans were in place for each patient and these were regularly reviewed to take account of their changing needs. We found that ‘crisis and contingency plans’ were in place and these were regularly updated. Appropriate risk assessments were in place and these were updated to take account of any changes or significant risk events. The risk assessments we looked at took account of potential harm to self and/or others.

We found from talking to staff and by reviewing records, patients who used the service received safe and coordinated care where patients had been moved between services. We found there were sufficient staff with the right knowledge and experience to support patients who received a service. However, we also found the trust had taken steps to identify where additional staff was needed and plans were in place to employ additional staff to cover staff sickness and vacancies.

We found there were suitable arrangements in place to support staff and most of the staff we spoke with told us they were well supported by the team and their managers. The provider may wish to note that not all staff had received their annual appraisals and this should be completed to support and assist staff in their career development and achievements as well as providing an opportunity to improve their service when providing care to the patients they support

We found the trust need to make improvements to access of patients records as they were not always accessible or easily located when required. Staff also told us about the paper records not always being accessible to ensure they have the necessary information about patients and to protect them against the risk of unsafe and inappropriate care.

We did not speak to people who used this service as part of this review. We looked at a random sample of medical records. This was to check that current practice ensured that no treatment for the termination of pregnancy was commenced unless two certificated opinions from doctors had been obtained.