The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken action at Jeesal Cawston Park in Cawston, Norwich, following an inspection in March.
The inspection of the hospital which provides care for adults with a learning disability or autism was undertaken to check on previous concerns and areas where enforcement had been carried out.
The provider was unable to demonstrate any improvements despite caring for a significant reduction in the number of people at the hospital. As a result of the inspection, the service was rated inadequate overall and CQC began the enforcement process to cancel its registration.
Following this enforcement action, the provider decided to close the hospital. It was expected that all people would be moved to alternative services, and the hospital closed on 12 May 2021.
Dr Kevin Cleary, CQC deputy chief inspector of hospitals and lead for mental health, said:
“When inspectors re-visited Jeesal Cawston Park, it was clear that service leaders were unable to make the necessary improvements vital to providing the appropriate care for the vulnerable people at the hospital.
“We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
“Leaders at Jeesal Cawston Park had failed to ensure the service improved despite continuous interventions by CQC.
“The service has a long history of poor performance and has been in special measures since 2019 with CQC using its civil enforcement powers due consistent failures in meeting standards.
“This is why we took the decision to cancel its registration to ensure people are moved to alternative care settings where they will receive the proper level of care they need”.
There were many areas of concern found on inspection, including:
- The service did not have enough appropriately skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe. There were also issues with ligature risk assessments containing inaccurate information
- Staff did not always monitor the effect of medicines on people’s physical health, medicines records were incomplete, and staff did not always follow prescribing instructions
- The service did not support people through recognised models of care and treatment for people with a learning disability or autistic people
- The service did not have all the specialists required to be able to provide effective care and treatment and meet people’s needs
- People did not always receive kind and compassionate care from staff. Staff did not always protect and respect people’s privacy and dignity or understand each person’s individual needs
- People only had access to a limited range of activities that were mostly self-directed and were not part of planned therapy or care to support them to achieve their goals or discharge
- The provider did not have a restrictive practice reduction programme or sufficient oversight of restrictive practice and the use of physical restraint was increasing
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