The NHS trust which runs Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton has kept its overall 'good' rating with some services classed as 'outstanding' after the latest inspection.

Peter Lewis, Chief Executive of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said it had taken immediate action to rectify environmental issues in mental health wards.

Mr Lewis, who is also chief executive of Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said in response to the inspection report published on Friday: “Today the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published its report into Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (Somerset FT) after it inspected the trust in September last year.

“The CQC team assessed our acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care unit, specialist community mental health services for children and young people and community end of life care services of this trust and considered how 'well-led' the organisation is.

“The trust’s overall rating remains good. We are rated outstanding for caring, good for effectiveness, responsiveness and the well-led domain, and requires improvement for safety. The CQC has rated our community mental health services for children and young people (CAMHS) as outstanding and our community end of life services and our acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care unit as good overall.

“The CQC inspection team found outstanding practice which it highlights in the report and includes the CAMHS team’s work and approach to eliminating waiting times for the service and the work of community end of life team to consider the specific needs of patient groups and better meet their needs.

“As part of its consideration of how 'well-led' the trust is, the CQC observed a number of meetings and met leaders across the trust. The CQC’s inspection team noted that:

- The trust has a clear vision and set of values that colleagues understand;

- The trust has well-embedded clinical leadership;

- The senior leadership team demonstrated a high level of awareness of the priorities and challenges facing the trust and how these were being addressed;

- Overall leaders had the skills and abilities to run the service, were visible and approachable for patients and colleagues and supported colleagues to develop their skills and take on more senior roles;

- Leaders and colleagues actively and openly engage with patients, staff, equality groups, the public and local organisations to plan and manage services and collaborate with partner organisations to help improve services for patients;

- Colleagues feel respected, supported and valued;

- We promote equality and diversity in our daily work;

- Colleagues are focussed on the needs of our patients.

“The CQC inspection report also provides valuable insights about where we can improve, most notably at a trust-wide level by reviewing how we increase representation of black and minority ethnic colleagues in some areas and address the issues that black and minority ethnic colleagues report about bullying and harassment.

“Within the services that it inspected, the CQC also highlighted issues for us to address which we are following up. We have taken immediate action to rectify the specific environmental issues within our mental health wards.

"We are also making wider improvements with the development of a new ward in Yeovil and the refurbishment of Rowan ward which cares for adults of working age who are experiencing an acute mental health problem.

“I thank the CQC inspection team for their time and insights and for Somerset FT colleagues for their ongoing focus on the needs of our patients and service users.”