Lincolnshire mental health services given clean bill of health
In the 2008/09 Care Quality Commission (CQC) annual health check Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has achieved a rating of ‘excellent’ for use of resources and ‘good’ for quality of services.
The CQC health check assessment is made against 24 core standards for all mental health and learning disability trusts. The comprehensive assessment covers standards of care, safety and cleanliness, and making care safer. The health check gives a very detailed picture of how every NHS organisation nationally is performing, with organisations assessed as weak, fair, good or excellent for quality of services and use of resources.
The core standards for 2008/9 have expanded from the previous years as the CQC – formerly the Healthcare Commission - seeks to assess whether or not NHS organisations have improved. In March 2009 the Trust identified in its CQC self-assessment declaration that it was not fully compliant on one standard relating to medicines management. Since then the Trust has improved the way in which medicines are stored and transported around its facilities and it is now compliant against all 24 standards for 2009/10.
The Trust’s ‘excellent’ rating for management of resources continues to enable funds to be invested in further improving areas of most need and builds on the Trust’s strong track record of sound financial management.