Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust has been working closely with Assessment and Treatment service users, their families and health and care partners to address the significant shortfalls in the high-quality standards they expect to provide on their unit for people with a learning disability or autism.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the Assessment and Treatment Service at Firshill Rise as ‘inadequate’. Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust are very concerned about the findings of the review and they are committed to improving care for service users and their families.

Mike Hunter, Medical Director at Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, said; 'We are very sorry that we have not delivered good care consistently in our unit at Firshill Rise and we will improve the care we provide there.

‘We have now temporarily closed the unit to admissions to give us time to make the required changes including training for staff and thinking carefully about how we provide services in the future. The service users who are still in the unit have more activities and extra support to help them have a better experience in our care.

‘We will work with service users, their families and carers, and our health and care partners to make these changes. We will ensure that Sheffield and South Yorkshire have an Assessment and Treatment unit that we can all be proud of, because it supports the needs of some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.’

The full CQC inspection report is available here.