MENTAL health bosses in Hampshire have been told they must make dramatic improvements to the care they offer vulnerable patients.

Suicide risks, staff shortages, access to emergency care and restraining youngsters are among concerns raised by watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in a report published today.

It follows an inspection of all mental health services run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which has now been told to produce an improvement plan.

Inspectors visiting Southfield in Southampton, Ravenswood House in Fareham and the seclusions room in Leigh House in Winchester discovered items that could be used in a patient's suicide bid.

The report also revealed how desperate mentally ill people were turning up at accident and emergency departments, having failed to receive help from out of hours crisis services.

Meanwhile patients who had been sectioned at Antelope House in Southampton were found to be waiting too long for a psychiatric assessment - meaning some were languishing there far longer than necessary, breaching the Mental Health Act's code of practice.

Inspectors criticised Lymington New Forest Hospital and Gosport War Memorial Hospital where the controlled drugs cupboards did not comply with the trust's own rules.

Prescription pads were managed in an “insecure” way and with an incomplete audit trail of safe and appropriate use.

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Southfield

The CQC also urged that the trust ensured there was an appropriate policy detailing how much restraint should be used on young people.

Another major concern identified was the shortage of newly qualified mental health nurses in the county.

Dr Paul Lelliott CQC deputy chief inspector of hospitals said: “Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust had been going through a significant period of change.

“I would hope that when we return to re-inspect in due course we will find that those changes have been embedded further alongside the improvements that we have identified.”

Chief executive of Southern Health Katrina Percy said the trust was already making improvements.

She said: “We know that there will always be things we can learn from and ways we can make our services better, and we are working closely with staff, commissioners and partners to make progress.

“This is a challenging time for the health service nationally, and our work with colleagues in primary and social care will transform traditional care services for the future.”

The CQC report also found some services were good or outstanding.

The mother and baby unit at Melbury Lodge was singled out for praise for its working helping mentally ill mums while the Trusts' commitment to psychiatric research, which involves 45 projects with 800 people, was also praised.

  •  The report comes just weeks after the Daily Echo told how high risk mental health patients were being moved into a makeshift secure unit in a Hampshire community because inspectors felt their current centre was not safe enough.

Woodhaven House in Calmore has been temporarily upgraded so that people suffering some of the most severe mental health conditions can live there.

The emergency measure was needed after the Care Quality Commission demanded urgent work be carried out at Ravenswood House in Fareham including the removal of “ligature points”.

A total of 16 patients have been moved to the Tatchbury Mount unit and they could stay there for nine months, the meeting heard.