THE health trust which provides mental health and community health services across Bradford has won praise for the majority of the work it does.

Bradford District Care Trust has received an overall 'Good' rating from the national regulator for health and care services. It followed a CQC inspection over three days in mid-June.

Among the positives for the Trust - which provides mental health, community health services and specialist learning disability services across Bradford, Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven - was praise for its "outstanding" end-of-life service, as well as complimentary reviews from patients.

Other highlights within the report included outstanding involvement initiatives in some mental health services and the "excellent care" being provided to families by the Family Nurse Partnership Team.

The CQC said it also found services it inspected across the Trust were being delivered by staff who were caring, professional and working well together. The report stated: "Throughout the inspection we saw examples of staff treating people with kindness, dignity and compassion."

However, there were also some negatives for the Trust, mainly that the CQC found it "was not always providing a safe service for people across some of the services it provided".

Of five key questions addressed by the report - are services safe; are services caring; are services effective; are services responsive; are services well-led - the CQC said safety was the one area that 'Requires Improvement'. The other four areas were judged as 'Good'.

The report said the care environment at Lynfield Mount and Airedale centre for Mental Health Hospitals did not fully meet the current good practice guidance. It also states that risk assessments "weren't always evident in the low secure services".

Also, the report noted that there were times when staffing levels were stretched, that sometimes people's needs were not always met on low secure services, and that planned activities did not always take place.

The Trust received two compliance requirements. One was to improve the environment of assessment facilities for police referrals under the Mental Health Act. The Trust said work is expected to be finished on this by the end of next month.

The second was to improve access to the Trust's consultants and junior doctors for people using mental health in-patient wards in Bradford.

Simon Large, chief executive at Trust, said: "The Trust board is delighted with the findings of the Care Quality Commission inspection. "We are one of the first mental health and community health trusts to undergo this new intensive and in-depth inspection process using clinical and patient experts alongside national inspectors. Overall the CQC rated our services as good, well led, with caring and professional staff.

“We are immensely proud of all our clinical and support staff who work tirelessly, day and night, to provide high quality care.

“The inspection identified areas where we should focus in order to deliver truly outstanding services in the future. We care for some of the district’s most vulnerable people and are committed to continuous learning and improvement. We are already working to address the issues raised."

CQC inspectors visited wards, clinics and community teams and spoke with patients, carers and staff during their visits.