Concerns on quality of care at hospital

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said unannounced inspection visits to Penn Hospital in Wolverhampton had revealed 10 areas of "major concern".

The four-ward unit is a community mental health inpatient hospital providing treatment to voluntary patients and those detained under the Mental Health Act.

A 37-page report published by the CQC said: "We have identified areas of non-compliance in all 10 of the essential standards of safety and quality we reviewed.

"Our overall judgment is that we have a major concern with the hospital's quality and safety of care."

CQC inspectors visited the hospital, which is run by Wolverhampton City Primary Care Trust, on two separate occasions in July, speaking to patients, staff and visitors.

The subsequent report identified concerns relating to issues of safeguarding, patient consent, the care and welfare of service users and the management of medicines.

Staffing levels, training and record-keeping were also identified as areas of concern.

The report said: "While the hospital had made plans to learn from serious incidents, it has not shown substantial progress in improving practice and outcomes for patients."

The CQC requested a written response from the trust, detailing how the breaches will be addressed and said inspectors would return to the hospital to check that improvements had been made.

However, it stopped short of taking further action, opting instead to work collaboratively with the hospital to support its improvement.

Andrea Gordon, CQC West Midlands regional director, said that her staff would "continue to keep the trust under close review".

She added: "We want to support long term improvements."