A REPORT into health services for patients with acute mental illnesses has criticised the trust responsible for north Kent.

The study, carried out by the Healthcare Commission, rated the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust as 'fair' overall but 'weak' in 31 out of the 72 categories.

Although the trust's acute care services and range of facilities were praised as 'excellent', its promotion of social inclusion was rated as 'weak' along with the quality of its physical health checks on patients when admitted to hospital.

It was also criticised for not providing patients with enough one-to-one sessions with nursing staff, while a high number of staff reported having experienced physical violence, bullying harassment or abuse.

A spokesman for the trust, which covers 14 mental health units in Dartford and Gravesham, admitted that work is needed to improve services but pointed to good results in other categories.

He said: "Although we received some disappointing scores in some areas we were also shown to be using crisis resolution home treatment teams effectively as well as providing good clinical supervision.

"Progress on many of the weaker areas has already been made and we have a clear action plan arising from this review, which will only further serve to support this work.

He added: "The in-patient services at The Little Brook Hospital in Dartford, which also serve Gravesend and Swanley, are among the very best in the country.

"The wards there were the first in the UK to receive the Excellence' standard."

The commission's review was conducted between April 2006 and March last year following a number of reports over the last decade highlighting concerns about the quality of in-patient mental health services.

Chief executive of the commission, Anna Walker, said: "I think that society is sometimes reluctant to talk about mental healthcare concerns, but I'm afraid the problems are not going to just go away.

"We need to have the same high expectations for these services as we do for other parts of the NHS."

This latest report put Kent and Medway 51st out of 69 in a league table of trusts which provide such services.

To see the report in full visit healthcarecommission.org.uk