BOSSES of an under-fire health trust say they are committed to restoring confidence in their services after a recent inspection found it had shown signs of improvement.

Inspectors have lifted a warning notice that had been imposed on Southern Health NHS Trust which was deemed to be failing following a catalogue of damning reports and revelations.

Health watchdog the Care Quality Commission today published the findings of an inspection of Southern Health, conducted over three days in September and concluded that the Trust was "getting to grips" with the underlying problems.

It follows an inspection earlier this year where the CQC concluded that not enough was being done to improve, prompting a the warning notice to be imposed in March.

The notice meant that the Trust was subject to extra scrutiny and monitoring by the watchdog but that now it was deemed to be improving after meeting targets set by the CQC.

Inspectors said that following their recent visit trust had taken sufficient action to meet the requirements set out in the notice.

Julie Dawes, Interim Chief Executive of Southern Health said having the warning notice lifted was a positive step forward.

She said: "We are not complacent and do not underestimate the work we need to do to restore confidence in our services among our local communities.

"The inspection report underlines the areas where we need to continue to improve and highlights some concerns which we take very seriously.”

Southern Health has been under intense scrutiny following the deaths of hundreds of patients, including 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk who died in 2013.

A inquest jury concluded that neglect contributed to the death of Mr Sparrowhawk, who drowned after an epileptic seizure at Slade House in Oxfordshire.

Previous CQC inspections had also highlighted that the physical environment at some of the trust's mental health and learning disability units posed a significant risk to the safety of patients.

During this most recent inspection, inspectors found that there had been a number of significant improvements in identifying and prioritising risks, including those posed by ligature anchor points, falls from heights and from patients absconding.

Many staff and senior managers confirmed that it had become clear over the past six months that the trust was now more focused on patient safety.

Dr Paul Lelliott, Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals and Lead for Mental Health, said: “I am pleased to report that during this inspection we have found signs that the trust’s management team was starting to get to grips with the underlying issues that were putting patients at risk."

He added that there were still areas of concern around some sites but that trust leaders acknowledged the scale of the work that needed to be done and that monitoring by the CQC would continue.

“We still have some areas of concern about specific sites – particularly Elmleigh and risks posed by the environment. We raised these issues again at the time of our recent inspection so that the trust could take immediate action.

“The trust leadership has recognised that there is still significant work to do and that the new systems need to be embedded to demonstrate long term improvement.

“Overall, we have concluded that the trust had taken sufficient action to meet the requirements set out in the Warning Notice.

"The trust has assured us that it will continue to working on the outstanding breaches. We will be monitoring the trust’s progress closely - returning to check that the required improvements have been made and are being sustained.”

Richard West, whose son died while in the care of Southern Health, said: "Any improvements are very welcomed.

"The Trust have certainly engaged with parents and relatives now and that is to be applauded.

"However, still no one has been held accountable for the failings over the past few years.

"It has been awful - everyone has just walked away."

However, former governor of Southern Health John Green criticised the move and the standard of previous inspections.

"I think that it's total nonsense.At the present time, I don't take this seriously because it is totally inadequate.

"For four years the Care Quality Commission never picked up on the findings.

"There's a long way to go before we can say standards are adequate."