HEALTHCARE staff have been praised for improving mental health care in two York hospital wards.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection in May at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

The Trust was issued a warning notice in January this year over its acute inpatient wards and psychiatric intensive care units (PICU).

CQC inspectors returned to the sites to check if staff were dealing with "risks and learning fully from serious incidents".

Among those wards inspected was the Ebor ward - a 12 bed female acute admission ward at Foss Park Hospital - and Minster ward - a 12 bed male acute admission ward at Foss Park Hospital.

CQC said it no longer had significant concerns around systemic failures in how senior leaders were managing patient risks in the acute inpatient services.

Brian Cranna, CQC’s head of hospital inspection for mental health, revealed the Trust has "made progress".

Mr Cranna said: “At this inspection, we were pleased to see the trust had made progress in the safety and management of these services, improving them for people who rely on staff to keep them safe. But there is still work to be done to make sure these improvements are embedded so they can be sustained in the long term.

“A lot of the issues we found at our previous inspection related to the environment being unsafe. At this inspection, we found leaders had worked to make sure points people could use to harm themselves had been removed or steps taken to reduce the risks around them, and staff we spoke to were clear about this. However staff weren’t always following new policy."

He added: “Leaders know the areas where we expect to see further improvements and we will continue to the monitor this as well returning to check on their progress.”

Brent Kilmurray, Chief Executive at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Whilst we are pleased that the improvements have been recognised, this is just one step on a longer journey to change.

“Our staff have worked tremendously hard to provide a safer, more caring, and compassionate environment for everyone involved with us. We have received great support from our health and care partners. I want to thank everyone who has been involved and has supported us.

“However, we know that there is still work to do and we are committed to continually improving the experience for people in our care, their families and carers and our staff.

"Over the coming months we’ll continue to implement our new strategy and embed our values in everything we do.”