15 and 16 July 2019
During a routine inspection
Our rating of this service went down. We rated it as inadequate because we rated two key questions as inadequate (safe and well-led), two as requires improvement (effective and caring) and one key question (responsive) as good. This was because:
- The service did not provide safe care.
- The ward environments were not fully safe, secure and clean. We issued a warning notice to the provider to make sure they improved maintenance and cleanliness of the premises.
- Staff did not always review or manage risk well. Staff did not always update patients’ risk assessments following incidents.
- Managers did not fully identify all ligature risks and did not fully review restraint incidents to ensure they accurately recorded and minimised the use of restrictive practices.
- Staff did not develop individualised holistic, recovery-oriented care plans.
- Staff did not fully record how they actively involved patients and families and carers in care planning and decisions.
- The service was not well led and the governance processes did not ensure that ward procedures ran smoothly. There was too much responsibility placed on one senior manager to manage strategically and operationally this hospital and another of the provider’s hospitals.
- We identified shortfalls not picked up by the provider’s own audits. The provider had not addressed the shortfalls we found on the last inspection. We issued a warning notice to the provider to make sure they improved the governance arrangements.
However:
- Staff provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the patients and in line with national guidance about best practice.
- The wards had enough nurses and doctors. The ward teams included or had access to a range of specialists required to meet the needs of patients on the wards.
- Managers ensured that staff received supervision and appraisal. The ward staff worked together as a multidisciplinary team and with those outside the ward who would have a role in providing aftercare.
- Staff understood and discharged their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness and understood the individual needs of patients.
- The service managed referrals well so that patients were admitted quickly and patients were discharged promptly once their condition warranted this.