Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust will receive external “expert support” to improve the way it investigates and reports deaths at the trust.
Monitor, after considering the December 2015 report by Mazars on Southern Health, decided that the Trust failed to properly investigate deaths and to engage properly with families.
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust will receive external “expert support” to improve the way it investigates and reports deaths at the trust.
Monitor, after considering the December 2015 report by Mazars on Southern Health, decided that the Trust failed to properly investigate deaths and to engage properly with families.
This is particularly important when the individuals concerned had a learning disability and/or mental illness and may have been less able to speak up for themselves, because families are often closely involved with their care and may have important knowledge to support investigations, the regulator said.
Claudia Griffith, regional director for Monitor, said: “We have taken action to ensure that Southern Health improves the way it investigates deaths among people with a learning disability and/or those who are experiencing mental illness.
“However, it is also clear that more work is needed across the NHS to identify and spread best practice for reporting and investigating deaths among people with a learning disability and/or mental illness.”
Monitor will now work closely with the Care Quality Commission to assess how deaths among people with a learning disability and/or mental illness are investigated and what further action is needed across the NHS and by the trust.
