CALLS have been made for urgent intervention to make sure mental health hospitals in the region are as safe as possible.

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald made the statement following a fresh report from the Care Quality Commission highlighting issues at mental health hospitals in Darlington, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

Stockton MP Alex Cunningham also called for intervention by the Department for Health.

The watchdog raised concerns about five psychiatric intensive care wards run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, including at West Park Hospital, Darlington, Roseberry Park, in Middlesbrough and Cross Lane Hospital, Scarborough, which have been rated inadequate.

A report was published today.

Mr McDonald said: “This really is a devastating report.

"It tells us what has gone so badly wrong, but what our communities want to see is action to put it right. It is particularly concerning that despite previous CQC reports highlighting deficiencies around safety and leadership, the same failings are again found in this latest report.

"Given the history of the trust in recent years, I have lost confidence in the ability of the trust to learn from its mistakes or that the recommendations made by the CQC can or will be implemented.

"We can no longer rely on inspection reports and recommendations and so I am writing to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock today to demand that Government urgently intervene to make absolutely sure that every possible resource and assistance is given to make these hospitals as safe as possible."

“It is vital that our communities have confidence that if they need mental health services at our hospitals, they can be assured that those services are safe. Sadly, from this latest damning report there is a great deal of work to do.”

Yesterday, trust chief executive Brent Kilmurray said he fully accepted the CQC's findings and had taken immediate action.

He added further action was being taken, including spending £3.6 million on recruiting 80 more care staff.

Responding to the CQC report, he said: "“We fully accept the issues raised in the report and have taken immediate action. As a result, we already have a better environment for patients on our wards.

“We have also provided assurance to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that effective systems are in place in our wards and that further improvements will be made across our services, with work already underway.

“The report has rightly highlighted issues we had already identified as needing improvement and we were already working to address them.

“A huge amount of work has taken place since the CQC visited our inpatient wards in January and we’re continuing to make improvements for the benefit of our patients and staff.

“To support that, we will be spending £3.6 million on recruiting 80 more care staff across our inpatient wards. We are also making significant investment in technology that will free our people to spend more time on patient care.”