THE North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for the third consecutive time.

North West Boroughs Healthcare offers community and mental health services for people living in St Helens, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton,Warrington and Wigan.

The CQC carried out unannounced targeted inspections in five of the trust's core services during October and November 2019.

They rated the trust as ‘Good’ across all five domains of safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. This includes an uplift from ‘Requires improvement’ for responsive.

The report included a lot of praise for the trust, including effective leadership across the organisation, a clear vision, a values-based culture which is positive and open, wards that are safe and clean and staff feeling respected.

Improvements have been recognised in a number of areas, particularly our older people’s wards.

However some areas, such as wards caring for those with learning disabilities have been rated as 'requires improvement' overall and the mental health crisis services and health-based places of safety have also been rated as ‘Requires improvement’ overall.

Helen Bellairs, chairman of North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It is a fantastic achievement to have maintained our ‘Good’ rating for the third consecutive inspection.

“I’m particularly proud, but not surprised, to receive positive feedback about our kind and compassionate staff. Our staff are the heart of our organisation, putting our patients’ wellbeing first at all times.

"I’m pleased to see the dedication and hard work I see every day receive the praise and recognition it deserves.

“While we remain ‘Good’ for all domains, there are some areas for improvement which we are now focusing on.

“It’s important to remember the CQC process is about identifying where continued improvements can be made and working together to make them happen.

"We have a strong track record in taking action to improve services, as demonstrated by the recognition of improvements made on our older people’s wards which were rated ‘Inadequate’ after the last inspection in 2018 and are now ‘Good’ for all domains.

“We have already begun addressing the ‘must do’ and ‘should do’ requirements outlined by the CQC to make sure we provide quality, safe and effective patient care to support our communities to live life well.”

The full report is available at nwbh.nhs.uk/care-quality-commission