Concerns raised about employment checks in seven mental health trusts

Seven mental health trusts are unable to demonstrate they carry out proper employment checks.

The NHS trust declarations on basic standards, published by the Healthcare Commission, revealed that two mental health trusts admitted they had not met vetting standards and five were unable to prove whether they did or not.

The report was published as leaked figures revealed more than 100 incidents of sexual assault and harassment, including staff-on-patient incidents, in mental health units over a two-year period.

The Mental Health Observatory report, which was prepared by the National Patient Safety agency and leaked to The Times this week, has reportedly been with the Department of Health since November.

While the vast majority of mental health trusts complied with most of the core standards, three said they did not meet basic patient safety standards and two said they did not co-operate adequately with other healthcare or social care agencies.

Four of the 61 mental health trusts listed said they had been unable to provide services in environments which “promote effective care”.

NHS trust declarations on standards from www.healthcarecommission.org.uk