Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust (GMMH) has been slammed for not making enough progress some seven months on from allegations of abuse of patients and ‘disgusting’ behaviour of staff.
Senior leaders from the trust were hauled before Manchester Council’s health scrutiny committee to answer questions on its improvement following the revelations of last year’s Panorama programme. The documentary uncovered scenes of harrowing treatment of inpatients at the trust’s Edenfield Centre - with even more serious failings across the trust’s care reported by the Manchester Evening News before and after the episode’s airing.
Many of the trust’s leaders who presided over the grave problems are still at the helm, including chief executive Neil Thwaite, who has been in post since 2019. Mr Thwaite handed in his resignation last month and is now serving his notice - but was ‘disappointingly’ absent from the scrutiny session to explain what improvements the trust has made, said frustrated councillors.
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GMMH was called before Manchester’s politicians today (May 24) to demonstrate the changes made in the wake of numerous investigations, including by the police, into its lacking leadership, staffing and care for patients. But yet more concerns emerged as the city’s councillors blasted GMMH for remaining mired by inertia.
The council’s executive member for health and care, Thomas Robinson, criticised the trust for not making nearly enough progress nor quickly enough - despite help being offered to GMMH by the council. Coun Robinson praised GMMH for being more open and transparent as it began instigating change back in December, but says the advancements have not been kept up.
“We need to be frank about the situation we find ourselves in with the trust and, quite frankly, the service is not where it should be,” he said. “What I find greatly frustrating is that I think the urgency, post-March, has gone out of this agenda.
“I am not seeing the results I need to see as the politician holding this agenda to account… it’s not just about the situation we’ve seen with Edenfield, but we’re seven months from that now and those revelations - and we’re six months away from the anniversary of it.
“I think those families need to be able to look the trust in the eye so that they know that some change is happening - and that is the real justice they get after those revelations. But it’s not just about them, it’s about the unallocated case loads we’re still seeing, the struggling that we’re still seeing for ordinary Mancunians who are very, very vulnerable at this moment in time.
“I do not think we can look them in the eye and say that they are getting the service that they need. That needs to be addressed urgently, I have a plea to the trust - particularly during this time of flux and change within senior leadership - that this is understood as a message from today.”
The councillor added that funding being provided by the council to assist GMMH is ‘not getting where it needs to get to’ and ‘actions aren’t rolling out in the way’ he would like to see them to create a meaningful shift in GMMH’s operations.
Meanwhile, councillor Pat Karney slammed Mr Thwaite for not attending the session, the absent chief executive is instead understood to be on annual leave. Coun Karney has insisted that the sitting chief should be made to appear before the scrutiny committee and answer questions before his departure.
Coun Karney told the meeting: “I am very disappointed that the chief executive of the trust is not here. He should be here.
“He was paid to provide leadership for this trust over the last five years. He should be here to account for what went on, to learn the lessons.
“We don’t scapegoat on this council and we don’t pile in on this council, but if you’re a leader of a trust of this nature, you should be here to account for it. The leaders of this council can’t just disappear in terms of the problems they’re facing on a daily basis and the rationing of services.
“We need to see the chief executive before he leaves employment… He’s a highly paid public official and should be here accountable to the public. You’ve only got to read [the M.E.N’s summary article from April 17] to see what’s gone on over the last few years.
“We need explanation, clarity and transparency about that. People can’t just leave and then pop up in some other part of the NHS, which we’ve seen over the years.
“The public of this city deserve to hear what the problems are.”
More criticism came from other councillors during the gruelling session for GMMH, including the scrutiny committee’s chair, Joanne Green. They slammed the trust for not going into detail when presenting their improvement plan.
The trust’s most senior representative, deputy chief executive Andrew Maloney, insisted the improvement plan was created in intensive detail with the help of national NHS chiefs, who plunged the beleaguered mental health trust into the equivalent of ‘special measures’ following the Edenfield Centre fallout.
But councillors aired fears that the improvement plan presented did not include evidence of when its condition will improve and the milestones needing to be met along the way to make its recovery happen.
Mr Maloney spoke of the ‘daily challenges’ being faced by GMMH, including a recruitment and retention crisis, as demand for mental health services continues to soar following the pandemic.
Other trust representatives addressed those internal struggles by saying GMMH is implementing a ‘robust’ employment drive. However, for example, no figures of how many employees need to be recruited to safely staff the trust’s services, in what disciplines, and the numbers brought on board so far, were shared to give any ‘real signs of the scale of the challenges the trust faces’, the meeting heard.
Coun Robinson concluded by saying the council will continue to push for and support change within GMMH, but warned: “By the time we get to that anniversary, we need to be able to demonstrate quantifiable results. At the moment, I can’t see how that’s achieved.
“We have to go further, faster, and there has to be an urgency between now and the end of the year to get to where we need to get to.”
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