A local mental health trust has been rated as one of the worst in the country by a Healthcare Commission.

The West London Mental Health Trust, which provides services at 32 locations in the boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Hounslow.

In an extensive survey carried out by the Healthcare Commission, the West London Trust, which operates the St Bernard’s Hospital (next to Ealing Hospital) in Southall, was rated as one of the worst mental health trusts out of the 69 in England.

To put it bluntly, the “Performance does not meet the minimum requirements and the reasonable expectations of patients and the public”.

Only recently, Ealing Hospital in Southall came at the bottom of the list aswell.

The 69 trusts in the England were rated as weak, fair, good or excellent in 4 categories. The results were:

• 12% – excellent
• 29% – good
• 43% – fair
• 16% - weak

The West London Trust war rated as “fair” in 2 categories but “weak” in the other two categories.

The two categories that it was weak in were:

• Service users and carers are involved in planning their own care, how the ward is run and helping to improve the service.
• The ward has approaches in place to make sure patients, staff and visitors are safe.