WEST London Mental Health NHS Trust (WLMHT) has made 'significant improvements' a year after being criticised for its patient safety procedures.

The trust, which provides services for people living in Hammersmith & Fulham, Hounslow and Ealing, was slammed in July last year after concerns about how it was responding to suicides and other serious incidents.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) launched an investigation after it found the trust often delayed investigations into incidents and failed to learn from 'common themes'.

They published their findings last Wednesday (July 7) after a five-day probe in March which saw service users, staff and board members interviewed.

Colin Hough, CQC regional director, said: "WLMHT faces real challenges in caring for some of the most seriously unwell patients in the country.

"That is why it is so important that its risk management processes are robust and can protect these most vulnerable of service users.

"There is no question that the trust has made significant progress, particularly in the way it reports and investigates serious incidents and manages medicines and pharmacy support.

"We will continue to monitor the trust through our tough new registration system which required the NHS to meet essential standards of quality and safety."

Trust patients were often forced to sleep on sofas or were kept too long on the intensive care unit because of overcrowded wards but all patients are now allocated a bed.

Vacancies are being filled more quickly and trust are waiting for Department of Health permission to redevelop their most dilapidated buildings.

They were found to have improved poor staff attendance at mandatory training sessions but have been told to improve 'poor' staff attitude after some service users said they were not spoken to regularly by members of the team.

A WLMHT statement said a new senior management team had been appointed including a new chief executive, director of nursing and direction of nursing and patient experience since the report last July.

A trust spokesman said: "We are pleased that the CQC has recognised the considerable progress we have made in meeting the recommendations of their investigation in 2009.

"We would like to thank our staff and partners for their considerable and hard work in the past twelve months, which has led to the improvements.

"At WLMHT we are now looking to the future and developing our forward plans."