A MENTAL health hospital in Basingstoke has been criticised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for not following the correct systems to ensure controlled drugs were managed safely.

Parklands Hospital in Aldermaston Road, which is run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, did not show substantial evidence that they followed the correct systems to ensure controlled drugs were managed safely in its Cherry and Juniper wards.

It was revealed during a CQC inspection, which took place in October last year.

In the CQC report, four of the acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units in Hampshire provided by the trust have been rated as ‘requires improvement’.

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As part of the inspection, the CQC inspectors also visited Parklands Hospital.

Criticising the trust for not following the correct systems for controlled drugs, an inspector wrote in the report: “The process for safely managing controlled drugs on Juniper and Cherry wards at Parklands Hospital needed to be strengthened.

“We identified four doses of controlled drugs that had been administered but not countersigned as required by guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence."

However, after the visit and the warning, the trust submitted an action plan to CQC to demonstrate how the changes would be implemented and embedded in the future.

Following further visits to the ward, the inspection team was ‘satisfied’ that immediate risks to patient safety were addressed.

“We found that the Trust now had a highly-skilled, robust, stable and experienced senior team, including the chair and non-executive directors,” the report said.

“Leaders had the skills, knowledge, integrity and experience to perform their roles and had a good understanding of the services they were responsible for delivering.

“They were visible in the service and approachable to patients and staff.”

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Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest providers of mental health, specialist mental health, learning disabilities and community health services in the UK, with an annual income of approximately £316m.

The trust provides community health, mental health and specialist mental health and learning disability services for people across the south of England.

The report was presented to the Health and Adult Social Care select committee on Tuesday, June 27.

Nicky MacDonald, divisional director of operations mid and north Hampshire, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are obviously disappointed that, following their inspection, the CQC found our process for the management of controlled drugs needed to be strengthened. The controlled drugs had been correctly administered but they had not been countersigned as required

“Since the inspection and the report was issued, we have developed a comprehensive action plan and this included the response to the management of controlled drugs, recruiting into a pharmacy technician post that was vacant. The pharmacy technician now supports the wards with weekly controlled drug checks, ensuring the correct medicines management policies are followed and any issues reported immediately. The Trust also provided bespoke training sessions for controlled drugs management to staff at Parklands Hospital in January and June 2023. Any medication incidents are reviewed centrally by our Medicines Safety Officer to identify trends and learning.

“Following the most recent inspection in October 2022, our CQC rating overall remains unchanged at Requires Improvement. The report also highlighted positive improvements, since the previous inspection in October 2021, and these services remain rated 'Good' for being caring and effective.”