Sussex Partnership responds to CQC report on Chalkhill
27 October 2023
The CQC has asked Sussex Partnership to improve its services at Chalkhill child and adolescent inpatient mental health unit, where we treat young people (aged 13 years old until their 18th birthday).
The CQC carried out two inspections in June in which areas of concern were raised in relation to incident reporting and management, security and safety of the environment and the knowledge, skills and experience of staff.
Delivering a safe and high-quality service for our patients is our priority and we immediately put in place a robust improvement plan to respond to the CQCs findings.
Dr Jane Padmore, Chief Executive Officer, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust said:
I am very disappointed that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessed we were not providing the quality service that children, young people and families rightly expect from us at Chalkhill. This follows their inspection of the child and adolescent in-patient mental health unit in June 2023.
As a team, we are determined to do better. We took immediate steps to act upon the CQC's feedback and I'm confident we are making progress. This includes strengthening security and safety, our reporting and management processes and staff training.
I want to assure the children, young people and families who need our services that we are committed to providing high quality care and treatment. A vital part of achieving this involves listening to, learning from and acting in response to feedback from the people who use our services, our regulators and staff.
We have been working closely with the children and young people at Chalkhill and their families and carers to invite regular, open and frank feedback on their experiences of our care and support.
The Board and the Executive Team are fully committed to ensuring we continuously improve in the best interest of the safety and experience of our young people, as well as the effectiveness of our care at Chalkhill.
If you have any concerns or questions about our services, please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Services (PALS) at pals
- Read the CQC's report on their website