Full statement from Southern Health chief executive

I have been very clear and open that we have a lot of work to do to fully address recent concerns raised about the Trust.

Good progress has been made, however we accept that the CQC feels that in some areas we have not acted swiftly enough. My main priority is, and always has been, the safety of our patients. We take the CQC’s concerns extremely seriously and have taken a number of further actions.

The full CQC inspection report, which we expect to receive later this month, will allow us to consider their findings in full.

In addition, our regulator NHS Improvement has announced that it intends to take action to allow it to make management changes if progress isn’t made on fixing the concerns raised. NHS Improvement recently appointed an Improvement Director to support us and we are committed to working with him to make the necessary improvements.

I want to reassure our patients and their families that I, and the Board, remain completely focused on tackling these concerns as quickly as possible.