An independent review into the widespread failings by a community health trust has been published today.

An independent review into the widespread failings by a community health trust has been published today. The review conducted by Dr Bill Kirkup CBE, commissioned by NHS Improvement, looks into the issues at Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust from November 2010 to December 2014. It also looks at the oversight of the trust by the NHS Trust Development Authority, NHS England and commissioners.

Dr Kirkup makes a series of recommendations for NHS Improvement, the Care Quality Commission, NHS England, the Department of Health and to the trusts currently providing services that used to be run by Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust. Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust was created in 2010 and services included adult care, child and adolescent care, community dentistry, prison healthcare and public health.

The report outlines how cost improvement programmes imposed by the trust in a bid to gain foundation trust status put the safety of patients at risk, and that a culture of bullying meant that staff were scared to speak up or that incidents were ignored or not escalated. The review found that the external overview of the trust failed to identify the services problems for at least four years, and concluded that earlier intervention would have reduced the avoidable harm that occurred to patients and staff across the trust.

NHS Improvement will respond fully to the review’s findings and recommendations by late March 2018.

We are grateful to Bill Kirkup for this report which highlights significant failings in patient care.

The report has important lessons for our organisation and the whole of the NHS.

We will carefully consider its findings and take appropriate action.

We expect to respond fully to the review’s findings by late March 2018.

Ian Dalton, Chief Executive of NHS Improvement

.