England's Chief Inspector of Hospitals has placed Huntercombe Hospital- Stafford into special measures after a Care Quality Commission inspection resulted in it receiving an overall rating of Inadequate.
An urgent, unannounced inspection was carried out in April 2016 following serious concerns highlighted to the commission. The CQC found that there was no effective system in place to safeguard the well-being of the young people at the hospital.
An announced inspection in May 2016 found further causes for serious concern regarding the staffing, management and clinical practice at the hospital.
CQC inspectors found the independent hospital, which provides child and adolescent mental health inpatient services for up to 39 young people aged eight to18 years, needed to make a number of improvements to ensure it was consistently delivering care which was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
The hospital was judged as Inadequate for being safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (and lead for mental health), Dr Paul Lelliott, said:
“We found a number of serious problems when we inspected the services run by Huntercombe Hospital-Stafford and have subsequently placed the service into special measures.
“We were concerned that the safety of young people using the service was compromised due to insufficient staffing levels, restrictive interventions, poor physical health monitoring and a poorly trained and supervised workforce.
“Personal searches were ineffective in preventing young people from obtaining contraband items to use to harm themselves. In addition, staff did not store medication securely in all areas.
“Staff often used physical restraint as a first, rather than last, response to a patient’s distress. Staff did not accurately document restraints and failed to offer follow up care to the young people involved. Also, situations that could lead to aggressive or disturbed behaviour were not being routinely de-escalated.
“Feedback from young people and their carers was largely negative and reflected a hospital that did not take into account the individual needs of those using the service. Young people were not involved in care planning and care plans were not shared with them. Some carers described staff behaviour as punitive.
“Despite being aware of the safety concerns at the hospital, the executive team within the wider Huntercombe group did not act or respond at the pace required to address the issues in a timely or decisive manner.
“We have maintained close contact with the service and partner agencies since the inspection and will undertake further inspections, including unannounced visits to check that the necessary improvements have been made.”
The inspection highlighted a number of concerns and areas where the trust must improve, including:
- The provider must ensure that entry to the hospital is controlled and that it maintains the safety of the young people by following a process of security checks on people at the point they enter and leave.
- The provider must ensure that all staff are skilled in, and have adequate knowledge of, local safeguarding procedures.
- The provider must ensure that emergency equipment is ready and safe to use through regular checks and testing.
- The provider must ensure that ward environments are compliant with standards relating to mixed gender accommodation.
- The provider must ensure that out of hours medical cover for the hospital guarantees that patients have access to psychiatric specialists at all times.
- The provider must ensure that staff complete care plans and risk assessments and review these regularly.
- The provider must improve the extent to which carers and family are involved in the young person’s care.
The full report including ratings of all core services will publish on the CQC website tomorrow (Wednesday, 31 August) at the following link: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-127463533
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