{"id":679342,"date":"2026-07-07T23:07:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/679342\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T23:07:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:07:43","slug":"report-finds-leadership-at-nhs-trust-requires-improvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/679342\/","title":{"rendered":"Report finds leadership at NHS trust ‘requires improvement’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated leadership at the Trust as “requires improvement” following its first inspection of leadership since the trust was formed, carried out in October and November.\n<\/p>\n

\n The trust delivers community and inpatient mental health services to around two million children and adults across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.\n<\/p>\n

\n Serena Coleman, CQC deputy director of mental health in the south, said: “When we inspected Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, we found the trust had undertaken significant work to bring together the predecessor organisations into one new organisation.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: University Hospital Southampton appoints new chief executive<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n “However, some cultural and governance aspects of this transformation hadn\u2019t fully embedded, or reached frontline services, and this was impacting staff morale.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Staff told us leaders weren\u2019t visible and described a disconnect between clinical and non-clinical staff.”\n<\/p>\n

\n The trust was formed in October 2024 following a merger of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust and Solent NHS Trust, along with the acquisition of some services from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Isle of Wight NHS Trust.\n<\/p>\n

\n CQC inspectors identified a number of risks and areas for improvement.\n<\/p>\n

\n Nearly 20 per cent of staff said they would be reluctant to raise concerns, fearing retribution or believing concerns would not be acted upon.\n<\/p>\n

\n Inspectors also found that systems, policies, and processes were still under development and not yet fully embedded, which in some cases created risks.\n<\/p>\n

\n For example, delays in finalising the organisational structure meant learning from safety incidents was not always shared in a timely way, putting people at risk of repeat incidents.\n<\/p>\n

\n READ MORE: Southampton hospital wins national award for patient engagement<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n The trust was also found to be using multiple incompatible electronic systems, increasing the risk of losing important clinical information and making it harder for staff to complete mandatory training.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ron Shields, chief executive of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said:\u00a0 \u201cThe CQC\u2019s findings reflect where we are as an organisation that has made strong headway following a large and complex merger, with more to do to embed consistent leadership, systems and processes that enable our staff to deliver the best possible care.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Inspectors did also note examples of positive care.\n<\/p>\n

\n Feedback about staff was overwhelmingly positive, with people saying staff involved them in decisions about their care and often went above and beyond.\n<\/p>\n

\n Carers also reported regular communication and involvement in key meetings.\n<\/p>\n

\n The trust worked effectively with primary and social care partners to support positive outcomes for patients.\n<\/p>\n

\n Mr Shields said: “Most importantly, the CQC\u00a0heard overwhelmingly positive feedback from\u00a0patients and carers\u00a0about the care they receive.\n<\/p>\n

\n “This reflects the professionalism and commitment of our staff and the strength of the services\u00a0they\u00a0deliver.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThese findings will help us continue improving and developing the way we work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated leadership at the Trust as “requires improvement” following its first inspection of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-679342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}