By Carole Dennett
Mental health crisis services on the Isle of Wight have been rated ‘Requires Improvement’ following the first Care Quality Commission inspection since the creation of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The findings form part of a wider assessment of crisis care and health‑based places of safety (HBPOS) across the merged organisation, which launched in October 2024.
Inspectors visited all five HBPOS, including the Island’s suite at Sevenacres, and reviewed the work of the IW Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team (CRHTT). The overall rating was ‘Requires Improvement’, with the same rating given for safety, effectiveness, responsiveness and leadership. Caring was rated ‘Good’.
The report highlights several concerns for Island residents. Inspectors found inconsistent safeguarding processes, gaps in mandatory training, and weaknesses in governance across the trust. Across the trust, inspectors identified seven breaches of regulation, including oversight of medicines, staffing levels, and the use of HBPOS as seclusion rooms.
The Island’s CRHTT was among the teams using one of two different care‑record systems, which inspectors said made risk information harder to locate. Staff told inspectors that rising referrals, bed pressures, and delays in moving patients through care pathways, were affecting workloads.
Despite the concerns, people using Island crisis services consistently described staff as caring, compassionate, and non‑judgmental.
One person told inspectors, “They are always kind.”
Suzie Marriott from the Trust welcomed the recognition of kindness and compassion, but said the trust fully accepts the concerns raised and has already produced a plan to address them. She added: “We recognise the impact this may have had on people using our services, their families and carers, and our staff, and we offer our sincere apologies.
“As a newly formed organisation, we are working at pace to bring together services and establish consistent, high-quality standards across the trust.”
The trust has been asked to produce an action plan addressing the issues raised. The CQC noted that the service had a proactive approach to learning from incidents and that all locations visited were clean and well maintained.
