We spoke to two people on the continuing care unit. Both were very happy with the care they received and they liked living on the unit.

We visited Wearmouth View and Newberry Wards at Monkwearmouth Hospital.

Staff we spoke with were very knowledgeable about patient’s individual care needs. They told us they had enough time to make sure each person received the care they needed. We observed positive interactions between patients and staff. Patients were responded to appropriately when they asked for any assistance or became anxious or upset.

We found documentary evidence patients, their relatives and health care professionals were involved in care reviews and their views were sought and recorded. Relatives we spoke with told us they had seen the care plan for their relative and were invited to attend review meetings.

We looked at staff training records for the wards which showed all staff had received safeguarding adults training. Staff said they were aware of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities which included the need to accurately record and report potential incidents of abuse. One member of staff told us, “I have never seen anything but excellent care here but if I did have any concerns, I would be confident voicing any I had. I have done in another place I worked in.”

Staff told us good systems were in place to deal with any problems with the environment and repairs were carried out promptly. Staff said they did not have any concerns about the environment.

We found the provider had robust systems in place to ensure the quality of its services.

As part of this inspection, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) liaised with other statutory bodies to identify an overall view of how the trust was performing and any areas of concern. Contact was made with Healthwatch England, NHS England and Monitor, and their views were taken into account in arriving at the judgements on compliance.

No specific areas of concern affecting this inspection were received from local Healthwatch England, the independent consumer champion for health and social care.

Monitor has the responsibility for ensuring foundation trusts, such as Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, are well led in terms of quality and finance. CQC received confirmation that apart from one recently received concern, Monitor had no other significant concerns regarding the trust. The issues raised by the specific concern were looked at during this inspection and are the subject of ongoing review by CQC.

NHS England has the responsibility for commissioning services and ensuring the provision of high quality services. The Cumbria, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Area Team had the view that the trust is providing good care but had some questions about specific services and broader issues such as restraint policy. CQC was made aware that these, as well as quality and workforce issues, restraint and specific serious untoward incidents, will be discussed with the trust through a meeting of the Quality Review Group in September 2013. These issues are subject to ongoing monitoring by CQC and have been taken into account in the judgements made in this report.