The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Eleanor Independent Hospital in West Didsbury, Manchester as inadequate overall and placed it in special measures following an inspection in May.
Eleanor Independent Hospital, ran by Eleanor EHC Limited, provides care for up to 34 women who have been diagnosed with a personality disorder or a mental illness.
The service was previously rated as requires improvement overall following an inspection in April 2021.
CQC’s latest inspection in May was carried out in response to safety concerns raised about the care and safety of people using the service, as well as to check on the progress of improvements they were told to make previously. Inspectors looked at the areas of safe, caring and well-led only.
Following this inspection, the service was rated as inadequate and placed in special measures. The service was also rated inadequate for being safe, caring and well-led.
Brian Cranna, CQC head of hospital inspection for mental health and community services, said:
“When our inspectors returned to Eleanor Independent Hospital, they were concerned to see a decline in the quality of care being provided to women at the service. Leaders must prioritise making the necessary improvements as soon as possible.
“The service wasn’t well-led and didn’t have a registered manager at the time of our inspection. This contributed to the hospital lacking oversight of this specific service which had caused serious issues to develop regarding people’s safety.
“Staff often fell asleep when people were supposed to have an increased level of observation putting them at an increased risk of harm. Some staff didn’t know the names of the patients they were caring for and weren’t briefed on why they were observing them.
“We also had significant concerns about the medicines management at the hospital and found many errors around the prescribing, recording, and dispensing of medicines which placed people at a serious risk of harm.
“Patients and their carers reported that staff weren’t very caring and didn’t seem to be fully aware of how to support the people in their care. Staff were often on their phones instead of supporting and engaging with people.
“Inspectors will continue to monitor service closely to ensure people are safe. If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take further action.”
Findings from the latest inspection included:
- The service did not have enough nursing and support staff to keep patients safe
- The hospital’s risk assessment process was flawed in that various formats were used at one time, this meant staff were not working with the most up to date and effective methods to manage and reduce risk
- Patients and carers told us that patients were not at the forefront of their own care
- Risk assessments and care plans were often incorrect or out of date which prevented people receiving the most appropriate care to suit their needs
- Staff often didn’t understand people’s individual needs and didn’t know what items they needed to remove from patients to prevent them harming themselves
- Some bedrooms contained belongings piled high almost to the ceiling and window ledges were also completely covered. We were therefore not assured that these rooms were adequately cleaned on a regular basis.