STAFF at St Helens walk-in centre have been given extra training due to concerns about low adult safeguarding referrals.

Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the centre, is currently being monitored through the Cheshire and Merseyside Collaborative Commissioning Forum.

Bridgewater was put on ‘enhanced surveillance’ – a process designed to improve the quality of services – as a collective response from all commissioners within the forum due to the trust’s overall quality of services.

Enhanced surveillance is a commissioner-led process supported by the provider, which is designed to improve the quality of services.

A new St Helens CCG report has revealed that a concern was identified during the monitoring period with the number of adult safeguarding referrals within the centre, which is now called the St Helens Urgent Treatment Centre.

Safeguarding adults relates to the safety and wellbeing of patients and ensuring that additional measures are provided for those least able to protect themselves from harm or abuse.

The CCG report said the number of adult safeguarding referrals appeared to be low and said that, while training is delivered this was “not translating into practice”.

Following discussions at the Quality and Contract Review Board in December, Bridgewater has taken action to review the service and provide assurance to the CCG.

The trust said it has put in place additional staff training to ensure the adult safeguarding process is as “robust as possible”.

A spokesman for Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “We work hard to ensure that our services are safe, effective and provide a good experience for patients.

“There are, however, times when working closely with our commissioners, we identify areas where improvements are needed.

“In these circumstances, an enhanced system of monitoring is put in place and detailed action plans are made to address concerns in an open and transparent way.

“Progress on the plans is then monitored at a senior level within the trust and the Clinical Commissioning Group.

“As part of this improvement work, we recently examined the process for adult safeguarding referrals at St Helens Urgent Treatment Centre and as a result put in place additional staff training to ensure the adult safeguarding process is as robust as possible.

“Enhanced quality surveillance is a national process designed to make services as high quality as possible and is viewed positively by the trust.”