CQC find improvements at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found improvements in the long stay and rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust following an inspection in October.  

CQC carried out a comprehensive inspection that included a follow up of breaches of the regulations, from a previous inspection in April 2021.  

The long stay and rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults are based mainly at Burntwood Villa, which is a locked step-down mental health rehabilitation unit for up to 12 people with one eight-bedded unit and one satellite self-contained four-bedroom open-door villa, Redwood Villa.

Burntwood Villa accommodates up to eight men and women, and Redwood as a semi-independent property houses up to four men. Staff are present at Burntwood Villa at all times. Redwood Villa is not staffed, but staff from Burntwood Villa visit once per shift to check on the welfare of people. Phoenix Ward is an 18 bedded mixed sex rehabilitation ward. 

Following the inspection, the rating for the long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults has improved from requires improvement to good. The ratings for safe, effective and well-led have also improved from requires improvement to good. The ratings for caring and responsive remain as good.  

The overall rating for the trust remains unchanged and is good.  

Jane Ray, CQC head of hospital inspection for mental health and community health services, said:  

“I’m pleased to report we found improvements at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust. Most people we spoke to said the majority of staff were caring and treated them with respect and kindness, which was great to hear.  

“The service also had enough nursing and medical staff with the right training to keep people safe. 

“Levels of restraint were very low. Some areas of each ward were kept locked for safety purposes and staff made every attempt to avoid using restraint by using de-escalation techniques so that people were restrained only when these failed and when it necessary to keep them safe. Our inspectors observed this in action on Phoenix Ward where staff successfully and quickly de-escalated a situation. It was good to see knowledgeable staff who were aware of people’s potential triggers for distress.  

“This inspection found that the service was well-led, but the leadership team acknowledged that there is still further work they would like to do. I am confident that further improvements will be implemented but also those changes already made will be sustained.”  

Inspectors found: 

• The wards complied with guidance in relation to mixed sex accommodation. Both wards had male and female people. All bedrooms on Phoenix Ward had en-suite facilities. At Burntwood Villa male and female bedrooms were separated by a locked door on the corridor. Male and female people had their own shared bathroom in their respective bedroom corridors. Females on Phoenix Ward had access to a separate lounge located at the end of the female corridor
• Staff knew about any potential ligature anchor points and managed the risks to keep people safe. Both wards had completed ligature risk assessments in the last year and some minor work to remove ligature anchor points had been carried out. There were plans in place to manage risks, which staff knew about, such as keeping certain rooms locked 
• Phoenix Ward had a sexual safety board that asked people whether they felt safe on the ward. People could also use sexual safety cards, coloured green, amber and red, to indicate how they felt and ask staff for help if needed
• Staff listened to people’s complaints and tried to address them. Complaints and lessons learned were shared with the staff teams
• The service had enough nursing and support staff to keep people safe
• The service provided music and dance movement psychotherapy. Music and movement psychotherapists use movement and dance as a method of expression to help individuals explore their feelings without necessarily having to talk or communicate in the traditional manner.

Contact information

For enquiries about this press release, email regional.comms@cqc.org.uk.