Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Staff were aware of the shared vision of the Trust and supported this in their role. Staff understood equality, diversity and human rights. The Trust had drafted a strategy to reduce and address inequalities faced by people using the service. Staff said that ward managers were visible and approachable. However, some staff said that senior managers were not always visible, and they thought they could do more to ensure staff were not burnt out. The Trust provided an update that the site had commenced monthly senior leaders drop in sessions for staff with the first one scheduled for 17 October 2024. Some staff said they knew how to speak up and thought they would be listened to. However, some staff did not know who to contact and thought their views would not be listened to or if they did so this would be detrimental.

This service scored 54 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff were able to describe the shared vision of the Trust and how their role helped to achieve them. Staff said some ward managers role modelled the values of the Trust. Staff understood equality, diversity and human rights. The Trust shared their draft Clinical Inequality Strategy 2024-2027 with us, which focused on the inequalities faced by people using the service and how these could be addressed. This was developed with people who use the service across the Trust. They had been successful in a bid to enable a voluntary organisation to work with people enabling them to access activities within their own communities to meet their cultural needs and reduce inequalities. They had been listed for a ‘Nursing Times’ award for co-production of the project. They were working with the spirituality, physical healthcare team and complaints team to progress this strategy. They had identified specific issues at Reaside including the physical environment and lack of ensuite, concerns regarding foods, individual cultures not celebrated, need for education regarding different cultures, lack of activities, feeling bored and physical health issues including weight gain. The project had helped to implement activity leads on the wards.

Staff said ward managers were visible and led by modelling inclusive behaviours. However, some staff said that ward managers were often off the ward in meetings which did not help to support the ward. Most staff knew who the Matrons were however some staff did not know who they were. Most staff said the new Matron was approachable and had visited the wards. Some staff said the Trust Chief nurse had visited Reaside recently however staff were not aware of the Reaside improvement plan or how this was being implemented. The Trust told us the senior leadership team had now shared the improvement plan with staff and an onsite session with the Chief Nurse and a Non - Executive Director was planned in November 2024 to further discuss the implementation of the plan. Staff said they would like senior managers to be more visible and check in with staff more often to make sure they're okay. They said this would help to reduce staff feeling ‘burnt out’.

We did not look at Freedom to speak up during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Well-led.