NHS trust in Cambridgeshire at risk of lacking enough qualified staff to meet regulations

A NHS trust that provides mental health and community services in Cambridgeshire is at risk of not having enough experienced staff to deliver care.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) has warned it may fail to comply with a Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulation for staffing.

The trust is responsible for Fulbourn Hospital and the Cavell Centre in Peterborough. It also provides NHS services within the community, including mental health and other specialist services.

Pri Pinnaduwa, a non-executive director at CPFT, told a board of directors meeting last Wednesday (31 July) that the trust was facing an “overall challenge around resourcing”, and there was a “risk around complying with CQC regulation 18, which requires us as a trust to have sufficiently qualified and experienced staff to deliver the services required”.

Ms Pinnaduwa also warned the trust was at risk of having “insufficient resources” to deliver clinical mandatory training.

The number of vacancies is “also creating concerns in terms of staff wellbeing”, she said, adding that the trust’s leadership was aware and working to address the issues.

Papers presented to the meeting said the vacancy rate at CPFT was below its target.

Reasons given include “significant national shortages” of registered and unregistered staff and the high cost of living in the Cambridgeshire area creating challenges for people to find somewhere to live.

But the papers noted there had been “successful recruitment campaigns” and reported that staff turnover has been decreasing month by month, standing at 11.7 per cent in May - although this is still above the target of 10.5 per cent.

Other issues affecting staff include “hygiene factors ie access to equipment and general support; working conditions; demand and capacity challenges; visibility of wider leadership”, said the report.

Some 92.74 per cent of staff in May had completed core training, above the trust target of 90 per cent. But only 88.02 per cent of staff had completed ‘role training’, below the target of 90 per cent in May.

The trust said “continued resourcing pressures” had impacted on staff engagement with training, as priority was given to delivering services. CPFT is working on offering more flexible delivery of training.