THE mother of an autistic teenager who died at a care facility in Oxford has labelled the findings of a new inspection report into the NHS trust as ‘chilling’.

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust was fined £2million in March after admitting responsibility for the deaths of two patients in its care, including that of 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk at the Headington unit Slade House in 2013.

In its latest inspection published yesterday, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found progress had been made at Southern Health but there was ‘still more to do’.

The trust was rated as ‘requires improvement’ overall by the CQC.

Mr Sparrowhawk’s mother, Dr Sara Ryan, said she was 'deeply disappointed' with the CQC’s findings.

She said: “The failings that have been identified in this report are the basic things, like a lack of care plans and making sure staff are supervised in getting rid of ligatures - we’re baffled how it can go on like this."

Of particular concern to Dr Ryan was a warning notice issued to the trust immediately following the first inspection in June due to concerns about the safety of young people on the child and adolescent mental health wards - though inspectors did their concerns had been addressed during an unannounced follow-up inspection in July.

Dr Ryan, whose son drowned after suffering an epileptic fit in a bath while left unsupervised, said: “It’s chilling.

“These findings were only about four months after the Health and Safety Executive prosecution and the judges ruling about the failings of the trust.

“It took years to get to that point and yet people are still being put at risk - it’s appalling.”

The CQC rated the trust ‘good’ for care; ‘good’ for responsiveness; and ‘requires improvement’ for safety, effectiveness and leadership.

Some aspects within these four criteria were rated outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, but the marks above are awarded by looking at the overall picture.

Southern Health was also rated 'requires improvement' overall during its last inspection in July 2017.

Later that year the trust admitted breaching health and safety law in the deaths of both Mr Sparrowhawk and another patient, Theresa Colvin, who died in 2012.

In 2015 a damning report also revealed how the trust had failed to properly investigate hundreds of patient deaths between.

Former trust boss Katrina Percy, who was given a £190,000 pay-off, stepped down a year later.

Chief executive of Southern Health trust Dr Nick Broughton, said he was 'encouraged' to see the trust’s progress highlighted which he said was a 'tribute to the diligence and compassion' of staff.

He added: “Whilst today’s report gives real cause for optimism, clearly we have more work to do: particularly in relation to our staffing levels and ensuring we have enough trained staff to best support the people we care for."

Head of Hospital Inspection in the South (and lead for mental health) Karen Bennett-Wilson, said: “It is encouraging to see the improvements that Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust have made, although there is still more to do – especially where we found there were not enough staff to meet patients’ needs.

“Overall we believe that the trust has made significant improvements. The new leadership team has a clear vision and strategy.

“Staff morale has improved with teams reporting a significant change in the culture and a greater sense of optimism than we have seen in the past.

“Frontline staff that we met felt positive and proud of their work and felt the trust was heading in the right direction.

“We will continue to monitor further developments and return in due course to report on further progress.”