East London NHS Foundation Trust
NHS / Health Body
Action Taken
The Trust has implemented an inbox-based system to communicate discharge care plans to CMHT staff, and monthly supervision for care coordinators is now working in line with Trust procedures. Regular audits are being undertaken to maintain a robust oversight on the process. (AI summary)
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Dear Madam Inquest touching upon the death of Songul Bozdag This is a formal response to your Regulation 28 Report dated 8th August in which you set out your concerns to the care Ms Bozdag received from East London NHS Foundation Trust. am aware that during the course of the Inquest you heard evidence from Ms Bozdag's care coordinator that led you to have concerns about the systems in place at the CMHT t0 monitor the work of care coordinators: Before setting out the steps that the Trust is taken in relation to improving systems would like to reassure you that the issues highlighted in relation to the conduct of the care co-ordinator. One of the first actions taken was an audit of the care coordinators case load to ascertain if she was working to agreed record keeping standards and practice. The gaps in the care that she provided to Ms Bozdag are currently being dealt with by her employer; the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, through formal processes with the full support of the Trust and the individual in question is not working with patients whilst these processes are ongoing: In relation to systems within the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) it is acknowledged that during 2016 and early 2017 the leadership and oversight was compromised and significant work has been undertaken to improve this position_ There is now a new Operational Team Lead in post and this member of staff has imbedded robust systems within the CMHT. The first change is the implementation of an Inbox based system to communicate discharge care plans to CMHT staff: Chief Executive: Dr Navina Evans relating
This system will ensure that details of patient discharges, including discharge plans, are sent from wards to Community Mental Health Teams through a central email referrals inbox The system will enable oversight of care plans, including medication changes The Inbox is managed by a Duty Administrator within the CMHT who is rostered daily and reviews all incoming mail during the and is overseen by a senior practitioner in each team along with the lead administrator: A seven day follow up following discharge from hospital is a intervention and has now been extended to include all individuals following discharge from hospital, not just those under the Care Programme Approach: Senior Practitioners are now responsible for ensuring that actions arising from discharge plans are allocated to care coordinators and monitored to ensure have been followed up. This include seven day follow upS, medical reviews and changes in medication: This new process will also allow senior practitioners to allocate actions to a worker if the care coordinator is absent from work or unable to undertake an intervention for any reason: The system for monitoring the ongoing support provided to service users by a care coordinator is monthly supervision: This had not been robustly undertaken within the CMHT and am pleased to report that this is now working in line with Trust procedures with all care coordinators receiving monthly supervision. Standing agenda items in supervision include CPA status, delivery of the care plan including monitoring of visits and medical reviews and the standard to record keeping: Regular audits are being undertaken to maintain a robust oversight on the process and also actively respond to any gaps in the system in a timely way and to provide assurance that staff are working to agreed record keeping standards and practice. In addition to the above a review of internal monitoring process has been undertaken to assure the Trust that systems are sufficiently robust and will flag up any cases where service users on CPA are not being seen regularly or reviewed by their consultant: Teams have access to live reports which allows real time activity by the Team and can be drilled down to provide data on an individual service user. The Team administrator also sends out weekly prompts around key performance indicators to the Operational Team Lead and this includes activity for patients on CPA With the systems that are now implemented at the CMHT hope you will be content that the Trust has taken these issues seriously and adequately addressed your concerns If you do require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.
This system will ensure that details of patient discharges, including discharge plans, are sent from wards to Community Mental Health Teams through a central email referrals inbox The system will enable oversight of care plans, including medication changes The Inbox is managed by a Duty Administrator within the CMHT who is rostered daily and reviews all incoming mail during the and is overseen by a senior practitioner in each team along with the lead administrator: A seven day follow up following discharge from hospital is a intervention and has now been extended to include all individuals following discharge from hospital, not just those under the Care Programme Approach: Senior Practitioners are now responsible for ensuring that actions arising from discharge plans are allocated to care coordinators and monitored to ensure have been followed up. This include seven day follow upS, medical reviews and changes in medication: This new process will also allow senior practitioners to allocate actions to a worker if the care coordinator is absent from work or unable to undertake an intervention for any reason: The system for monitoring the ongoing support provided to service users by a care coordinator is monthly supervision: This had not been robustly undertaken within the CMHT and am pleased to report that this is now working in line with Trust procedures with all care coordinators receiving monthly supervision. Standing agenda items in supervision include CPA status, delivery of the care plan including monitoring of visits and medical reviews and the standard to record keeping: Regular audits are being undertaken to maintain a robust oversight on the process and also actively respond to any gaps in the system in a timely way and to provide assurance that staff are working to agreed record keeping standards and practice. In addition to the above a review of internal monitoring process has been undertaken to assure the Trust that systems are sufficiently robust and will flag up any cases where service users on CPA are not being seen regularly or reviewed by their consultant: Teams have access to live reports which allows real time activity by the Team and can be drilled down to provide data on an individual service user. The Team administrator also sends out weekly prompts around key performance indicators to the Operational Team Lead and this includes activity for patients on CPA With the systems that are now implemented at the CMHT hope you will be content that the Trust has taken these issues seriously and adequately addressed your concerns If you do require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.