The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Magna House in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, inadequate following an inspection in April.
This inspection was carried out due to receiving information of concern from members of the public, people using the service, the integrated care board (ICB), as well as the police.
Magna House, run by Enbridge Healthcare Limited, is a 29-bed independent hospital, providing care, treatment and rehabilitation services to people who are experiencing mental health issues.
Following this inspection, the hospital’s overall rating, as well as for being safe and well-led has declined from requires improvement to inadequate. Effective, caring and responsive weren’t looked at during this inspection and remain rated requires improvement.
Greg Rielly, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
“During our inspection of Magna House, we found the standards of care were well below what people have a right to expect. The service wasn’t safe and people were at risk of avoidable harm. We were concerned there weren’t enough registered mental health nurses across the hospital to consistently meet the needs of people in a safe and timely way.
“The hospital didn’t provide an environment which was clean or well maintained. We saw areas which were dirty, including kitchens and appliances, flooring, toilet and shower areas, as well as bedrooms which are a place people should be able to feel comfortable and at home.
“Due to our concerns, we made a referral to environmental health around cleanliness, food hygiene and storage. We also had concerns about the safety of the structure of a new ward following the partial collapse of a ceiling and had to make a referral to the health and safety executive. These conditions are totally unacceptable, and nobody should have to live in a poor, unsafe environment like this.
“We heard there had been a high number of assaults on staff. Following these incidents staff didn’t feel supported, and not all staff had been trained around the management of violence and aggression which must be addressed as a priority to keep everyone safe.
“The standards we found at the April inspection weren’t good enough and we told the provider they must improve. We returned to Magna House in June to carry out a further inspection, and we did find some improvements had been made, following the issues we identified at the April inspection. The findings from the June inspection will be published in a report in due course.
“We will continue to monitor the service closely and if we aren’t assured people are receiving safe care, we won’t hesitate to take action, even if this results in closure of the service.”
At this April inspection, inspectors found:
- Staff didn’t consistently record and report incidents in line with the provider’s policy. Staff hadn’t reported some incidents, including a small fire, and the partial collapse of a bedroom floor
- The service had failed to notify CQC of some reportable incidents involving the police
- The provider had failed to address maintenance issues and repairs in a timely way, leaving areas of risk to people, including ligature risks
- The hospital wasn’t clean. Some bedrooms were cluttered with personal belongings, food, drinks, dirty crockery and rubbish
- Some people told us they had experienced physical assaults by staff
- Staff hadn’t followed best practice following administration of rapid tranquillisation with the monitoring and recording of physical observations in care records
- Staff hadn’t updated individual risk assessments following incidents to reflect current risks and management of these risks
- Not all staff adhered to the providers infection prevention and control policy
- Staff didn’t adhere to the Mental Health Code of Practice (CoP) during an incident of seclusion
- People told us that not all staff treated them with kindness and compassion. Some people told us that staff didn’t always interact with them while they were on enhanced observations. We heard of occasions when staff had been speaking to one another in front of people, in a language other than English.
However:
- Some people and carers we spoke to were positive about some staff
- The provider kept an updated log of all safeguarding concerns reported to the local authority.