The Care Quality Commission has rated Meadow Lodge as Inadequate overall following an inspection in February 2019.
CQC inspectors conducted a comprehensive inspection at the hospital in Chudleigh, Newton Abbott, following an unannounced inspection last year when CQC served a warning notice.
Following the February inspection, Huntercombe (Granby One) Limited took the decision to close Meadow Lodge.
Dr Paul Lelliott, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector for Hospitals (and lead for mental health) said:
“CQC has worked closely with NHS England along with other stakeholders. Meadow Lodge was subject to enhanced monitoring from these groups to ensure young people using services were safe since concerns were first raised last year.
“Our latest inspection of Meadow Lodge identified issues that were a matter of some concern and that although some improvements had been made the service was not managed in a way that ensured safe care was delivered.
“The Huntercombe Group has made the decision to remove Meadow Lodge from their portfolio of services.”
The full inspection report can be found at: www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-280143958
The service had not been able to provide a stable, positive culture to enable staff to deliver safe care. Frequent changes in management had caused confusion amongst the staff and they were unclear who was providing support to them.
There was a lack of robust arrangements to oversee the service. Staff were not always making the right safeguarding referrals to the relevant authorities. Some incidents were not categorised as safeguarding when they should have been. The service did not always raise concerns with the right organisations in cases of poor practice.
On seven occasions over a six-week period, agency nurses without the relevant knowledge or experience of mental health or child and adolescent mental health were left in charge of shifts.
Staff did not feel listened to and said that decisions were made without their involvement or consultation. Nursing staff said they did not have the opportunity to contribute to discussions about the strategy for their service as they were not involved in clinical governance or multidisciplinary team meetings.
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