The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has changed the overall rating of Ivetsey Bank Hospital in Stafford from requires improvement to inadequate, following an inspection in November.
CQC carried out a focused inspection at the hospital following patient safety concerns being raised.
Ivetsey Bank Hospital, run by Active Young People Limited is formerly known as Huntercombe Hospital Stafford, and is a child and adolescent mental health service for 37 children and young people aged 12 to 18 years.
As well as the overall rating dropping from requires improvement to inadequate, it has also gone from requires improvement to inadequate for being safe and well-led. Being effective remains rated as requires improvement. Caring has declined from good to requires improvement and responsive remains rated as good.
At an inspection in October 2021 this service was placed into special measures as the service was rated inadequate overall. CQC inspected again in September 2022 and found some improvements had been made, and it was rated requires improvement overall, although it remained in special measures.
Following this latest inspection in November, the service will remain in special measures, which means it will be closely monitored and re-inspected to assess whether improvements have been made to keep people safe.
The provider was also issued four warning notices informing it where it needs to focus their improvements where they are most needed.
Andy Brand, CQC’s deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
“During our recent inspection of Ivetsey Bank Hospital, we were concerned that leaders weren’t providing safe care. We found staff didn’t always complete appropriate checks after people had been injured during incidents or assess and manage risk well after they had occurred, to help prevent them from happening again.
“Additionally, the service didn’t ensure all incident forms were an accurate description to identify and safeguard young people from the use of disproportionate force during incidents involving restraint.
“It was disappointing that although staff had meetings in place where people and their families could give feedback on treatment, they weren’t always actively involved in their care planning and risk assessment.
“We will continue to monitor the service closely and if sufficient improvements are not made and embedded, we will not hesitate to use further enforcement powers to ensure children and young people using the service receive the safe and appropriate care they deserve.”
Inspectors found:
- Young people did not always receive care in their preferred manner
- Staff did not always label food safely and it was not always clear when food had been opened and when it should be consumed by
- Not all areas of all wards were clean, and all furniture was not wipeable to meet infection control needs
- Governance processes did not always ensure that ward procedures ran smoothly. The processes in place did not always identify gaps in recording, gaps in people’s checks and whether risk management plans had been updated after incidents had occurred
- The service audit systems in place did not identify if all young people with a dual diagnosis had a positive behaviour support plan in place.
However:
Staff actively involved people in multidisciplinary meetings including ward rounds
Staff worked as a team to de-escalate and support young people who were distressed using a range of methods including verbal de-escalation and distraction before using restraint.