The services supplied by Surrey Borders mental health trust are so poor that the Care Quality Commission says it is in the bottom 20 per cent of trusts in England for many aspects of its care.
The results of the patient survey conducted by the commission were published last week and make worrying reading.
Some of the worst scores for Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation involved medical and nursing staff.
They included responses to the questions, “Did you have confidence and trust in the psychiatrist?”, and “Did the psychiatrists treat you with respect and dignity?”.
The trust also scored a very low mark for how safe the patients felt on the ward and also low marks on questions involving information given about medication, its purposes and its side effects.
Many patients who had been detained under the Mental Health Act said their rights had not been explained in a way they could understand.
The trust also scored low marks for making patients feel welcome on the ward and making patients feel that the staff knew about them and any previous care they had received.
Responding to the survey, the trust said it showed it was important to proceed with their plans to redevelop their services in new premises.
But many of the criticisms of the trust involved standards of care rather than the quality of the hospital wards, although the trust was in the bottom 20 per cent for patients of both sexes having to share a sleeping area.
Surrey Borders was just in the top 20 per cent of trusts for giving patients enough notice of discharge from hospital but scored very badly for giving patients information on how to get help in a crisis.
It was average among trusts for the standard of food on offer and the help given by the hospital to keep in touch with family and friends.
Fiona Edwards, chief executive of Surrey Borders, said: “The trust is disappointed with the findings of the 2009 inpatient survey.
“The findings do however, underline the importance of pressing ahead with our plans to develop new hospital services across Surrey and north-east Hampshire to ensure we can dramatically improve patients’ experiences.
“The trust has a comprehensive quality improvement programme running to address all of the issues raised by the survey and has already implemented a number of improvements.
“They include the launch of a trust-wide crisis telephone helpline available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for anyone who may need support during a crisis and implementing a physical health action plan for people who use services.”
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