The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has raised the rating for Priory Hospital Newbury from good to outstanding following an inspection in November.
Priory Hospital Newbury, based in Newbury, Berkshire is a high dependency rehabilitation service for individuals with enduring mental illness working towards living life back in the community. It supports people who require a high level of care and intensive therapeutic support.
The inspection was undertaken as part of the continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services.
Following this inspection, as well as the overall rating improving from good to outstanding, so did the ratings for how safe, effective and caring it is. It was again rated good for being responsive and well-led.
Serena Coleman, CQC deputy director for the south, said:
“When we inspected Priory Hospital Newbury, we found an exceptional service where staff were very knowledgeable about the people they looked after. They knew how to support people and their loved ones in an individual, personalised way and this was reflected in the level of detail in people's care plans.
“A thoughtful and considered approach was taken towards people’s medicines and empowering people with physical health conditions to manage their medication. For example, a person with diabetes had been supported to use a patch and App system to monitor their blood glucose. The care plan had been developed with the person who now has a good understanding of how to manage their diabetes.
“If a person became really unwell, they could be sent to the local psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) if they wanted to go. However, the hospital would support the person during their time of crisis to prevent the need to transfer them to the local PICU as the person may see this as a backwards step in their care and the hospital always wanted people to see there was a way forward.
“We also found evidence that changes had been made as a result of feedback. For example, in response to learning from people not returning from leave on time and staff not initiating the absent without leave process in a timely manner, the hospital introduced a security nurse for each shift and absent without leave folders had been developed. It contained an individual flow chart of the process to follow for each person and when and who to escalate to when the person had failed to return from leave.
“Staff and people were supported by a skilled leadership team, who led by example to promote an open and person-centred culture.
“The team at Priory Hospital Newbury should be really proud of the care they’re providing. Other service providers should look at this report to see if there’s anything they can learn about supporting people during such a difficult time in their lives.”
Inspectors found:
- The service had developed good relationships with the local community which supported people to have access to a wide range of activities and amenities
- People were actively encouraged and supported to take up work opportunities, volunteering opportunities and join local clubs
- Staff had developed an ‘absent without leave’ folder for each person. This provided staff with clear details of each person’s current access to leave, their Mental Health Act status and other key information
- All incidents from the previous day were discussed in detail at the morning huddle and any actions required were taken accordingly
- Staff had received training in caring for LGBTQ+ people
- People had access to spiritual, religious, and cultural support. There was a multifaith room on site and people who wanted to attend places of worship were encouraged and supported to do so.