The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report on Cygnet Victoria House following a focused inspection in April.
The inspection of the hospital’s psychiatric intensive care unit (Albert ward) and acute ward (Victoria ward) was prompted by a rise in safeguarding notifications, which Cygnet Victoria House told CQC about.
These included 11 incidents of racial abuse between patients, as well as one incident where inappropriate restraint had been used by a member of staff. This incident was under investigation by the provider at the time of the inspection.
Cygnet Victoria House was not re-rated following this inspection, as the service type had changed since our previous inspection in October 2018.
Brian Cranna, CQC’s head of hospital inspection for mental health, said:
“When we inspected Cygnet Victoria House, we found concerns with the environment on both wards. The limited communal space on Albert ward was a contributing factor to the conflict between patients. Also, the layout of Victoria ward did not allow staff to have effective oversight of patients in all areas which could impact on patient safety.
“There was evidence of immediate learning being shared following incidents and managers had adjusted staff training and taken disciplinary action where appropriate. It was also reassuring to hear that patients who had been involved in or witnessed restraint told us it had been carried out appropriately.
“Inspectors saw that the service had enough nursing and support staff to keep patients safe and staff shared key information when handing over their care to others.
“The leadership team are aware of the improvements that they need to make and we will continue to monitor the service to ensure the required improvements are made and embedded.
“We will return to inspect to ensure patients are receiving safe and appropriate care"
Following the inspection, CQC told the provider that it must make the following improvements:
- Ensure that patients on Albert ward have access to adequate communal areas
- Ensure that staff on Victoria ward have effective oversight of all patients
- Improve their governance processes to ensure that they address the errors and omissions in their environmental risk assessments and audits, monthly incident reviews and incident records.
CQC told the provider that it should make the following improvements:
- Ensure that staff consistently uphold infection control principles
- Consider improving staff's understanding of the duty of candour.
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published on our website.
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