NHS trust told to improve mental health service

A watchdog has criticised a mental health service over staff shortages, risks to people waiting for care and poor medicine management.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the community-based service for working-age adults in Hull and East Yorkshire, run by the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, "requires improvement".

It follows an inspection in March, when the CQC found there were not always enough qualified or experienced staff and the service did not always make sure that medicines and treatments were safe and met people's needs.

The trust said it welcomed the report and was working to address many of the issues raised.

Inspectors found the service did not make sure that everyone could access the care, support and treatment they needed, when they needed it, and people struggled to access out-of-hours support.

Concerns were also raised about medicine management, with two service users telling inspectors they had not had regular reviews of their medication and had stopped taking it.

The report said the service did not have good management arrangements to deliver good-quality care, while leaders did not always act on information about risk to help keep people safe.

In addition, the service did not always ensure there was continuity of care, including when patients moved to the service from a different mental health team.

According to the report, one person had been waiting two years for treatment after moving from an adolescent team to the adult team.

However, while the watchdog reported six breaches of regulations, it said the service was caring and staff treated people with compassion and kindness.

Jayne Reid, the CQC's deputy director of mental health for the region, said the quality of care had "declined significantly" since the service was previously rated good in 2019.

"It was concerning that the service didn't always have a good understanding of people's needs when waiting for treatment or after they'd been prescribed medicines," she said.

Staff were praised for promoting people's independence and listening to their needs, views and wishes, however.

"It was positive to hear that people and carers described staff as kind and respectful," Reid said. "Also, carers told us that they were included and actively involved in their loved ones' care and treatment, which provided them with reassurance."

The watchdog has told the trust to submit an action plan setting out how it will address the concerns.

It said the trust had reported recruiting five nurses, but they had not started at the time of the inspection.

"Leaders have informed us that they have started to make improvements to address the issues identified," Reid said.

"We will be monitoring the service closely to ensure changes are made and people are kept safe while this happens."

The CQC found an earlier breach of regulations relating to mandatory training compliance had been addressed.

A spokesperson for the trust said the report provided an opportunity "to reflect on our services".

"The report highlights areas where improvement was required at the time of the inspection in March 2026.

"Many of these had already been identified by the trust and were being addressed through a comprehensive improvement plan shared with the CQC during the inspection process.

"Since the inspection, we have continued to build on this work, focusing on delivering sustainable improvements in the quality, safety and experience of care for our patients."

The spokesperson said it was working on improving "patient pathways", which would make it "easier for patients to get back in touch with our adult community mental health services, when they need further support".

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