AN ACTION plan for improvement at an NHS Trust which runs Bradford district’s mental health, community health and specialist learning disability services, will be discussed at a meeting later this week.

Last month healthcare watchdog the Care Quality Commission downgraded Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust from “good” to an overall rating of “requires improvement”.

It followed inspections in October and November last year.

Inspectors scrutinised nine core services out of 14 provided by the Trust.

They rated its caring and responsive services as “good”, but deemed safety, effectiveness and being well led as “requires improvement”.

Inspectors also found that although some improvements had been made in community health services, improvements were needed across the Trust’s services.

In a report to Bradford Council’s health and social care overview and scrutiny committee, medical director at the Trust, Dr Andy McElligott states that an action plan has been developed in response to the CQC’s findings and work is already underway to address the areas that need improving.

He added: “It is important to note that the CQC findings in respect of organisational culture, the care that staff provide and the responsiveness of Trust services was uniformly positive and that all service users who were spoken to confirmed this to be the case.

“The failures identified are typically failures of internal process and, whilst in no way attempting to underplay their importance, these are issues which could be amenable to relatively rapid resolution.

“Deep-rooted cultural, or attitudinal concerns, would have been more troubling.”

The report goes on to state that the Trust is considering introducing a formal quality improvement methodology to bring about long-term, sustainable staff-led improvements to the quality of its services.

A number of actions have already taken place, including immediate environmental improvements to a suite at Lynfield Mount Hospital, and updates to the clinical supervision and serious incident policies.

The meeting takes place on Thursday, March 22, at 4.30pm, in Bradford’s City Hall.