MENTAL health services at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust have improved and waiting times have fallen — but staff morale remains low.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an unannounced inspection last month to see what action had been taken since services were rated 'inadequate' in September.

In May last year, the CQC issued a warning notice after inspectors found the care provided was unsafe. Some people had waited for two years for mental healthcare, and existing patients were not regularly contacted by staff to make sure they were coping.

The regulator ordered the trust to carry out improvements by November 24.

Following the latest inspection, the CQC's head of hospital inspection, Karen Bennett-Wilson, said the trust had worked hard to bring about substantial improvements to its community-based mental health services for adults.

She said: "While there is still further improvement needed, we considered the trust had met the requirements of the warning notice.

"We will continue to monitor the trust’s progress closely and will return to check further improvements have been made and are being sustained."

The number of people waiting to be seen by the community team had been reduced from 180 in May to just 13.

The average waiting time for psychological therapy had been reduced from two years to one, although some patients had still been waiting for two years.

Two care pathways had been introduced for eating and mood disorders, and more were being developed.

Dr Lesley Stevens, director of mental health and learning disabilities at the trust, thanked the community mental health team for its hard work.

She said: "It is positive news for our community that waiting lists and caseloads are reducing and the team is getting better at managing risk.

"We know there’s a lot of work still to do and, working in partnership with Solent NHS Trust, we will continue to transform mental health services on the Island and make a positive difference for our community."

Staff caseloads had improved but morale remained low. Inspectors were told there was very little flexibility in the team, which meant colleagues had to cover extra work if a staff members was absent, preventing them from meeting their own targets.

Staff told inspectors senior managers did not understand the pressure they were under.