A private mental health hospital based in Warrington has been told it must ensure staff have mandatory training and to minimise use of agency staff, following ongoing concerns over patient safety.
While St Mary’s Hospital based on Floyd Drive, Warrington has improved to “Good” following a recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission, (CQC) safety still requires improvement.
The hospital is pleased with the “Good” rating and says like many healthcare providers, the hospital has faced significant recruitment pressures since the pandemic and has launched a comprehensive recruitment and retention campaign to help to improve the staffing position.
It follows a comprehensive inspection in January to ensure that the service was compliant against a warning notice that was issued as part of a previous inspection in July 2022 and previous requirement notices that had been issued. The latest inspection found that the service had carried out the necessary work to meet the requirements of the warning notice and previous requirement notices.
It is the 7th time the CQC inspected St Mary’s Hospital since it was registered by the Elysium Healthcare group in August 2018.
The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities:
• assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983; and
• treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
The latest inspection revealed that staff had not completed the necessary training required to carry out their roles. The hospital also used a high amount of agency staff and this meant that staff and patients were sometimes not confident in their ability to carry out their roles effectively. Staff did not always have access to regular management supervision.
Following the inspection the CQC say action the service MUST take to improve:
• The service must ensure that staff take part in the necessary mandatory training to enable them to carry out their roles safely and effectively. (Reg 18 Staffing)
• The service must ensure that they minimise the use of agency staff use so that they can provide patients with a more consistent team of staff. (Reg 18 Staffing)
Action the service SHOULD take to improve:
• The service should ensure that they continue to implement their plans to improve the monitoring of health conditions such as epilepsy.
• The service should ensure that all staff receive a level of supervision that meets their needs.
• The service should ensure that patient specific PRN protocols are easily available to those staff that are making decisions about prescribing, such as registered nurses.
St Mary’s Hospital provides inpatient care for men aged 18 years and older. The service was in the process of reconfiguring the wards, but at the time of the inspection, it had 65 beds over 5 wards. These wards are:
• Cavendish ward – 17-bed ward for men with an acquired brain injury. This includes 4 self-contained flats.
• Leo ward – 12-bed assessment, treatment and rehabilitation ward for autistic men.
• Hopkins ward (part of Leo ward) – 2 bed assessment and treatment ward for autistic men.
• Adams ward – 12-bed medium secure ward for men with an acquired brain injury including up to 4 beds for deaf
patients.
• Dalston ward – 18-bed low secure ward for men with an acquired brain injury.
• Eve ward – 4-bed acute mental health ward, used by a local NHS acute trust.
The hospital was rated as good because:
• The ward environments were safe and clean. Staff assessed and managed risk well. They minimised the use of restrictive practices, managed medicines safely and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.
• Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the patients and in line with national guidance about best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
• Staff developed and implemented good positive behaviour support plans to enable them to work with patients who
displayed behaviour that staff found challenging.
• The ward teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of patients on the wards. The ward staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team.
• Staff understood and discharged their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of patients. They actively involved patients and families and carers in care decisions.
• The service was well-led and the governance processes ensured that ward procedures ran smoothly.
A spokesperson for St Mary’s said: “The safety and well-being of our patients is always our highest priority, and we are grateful to the CQC for this latest inspection report.
“We were pleased to be rated ‘Good’ overall and that our dedicated staff were complimented for their ability to work well together as a multidisciplinary team. This is critical to the delivery of the very highest quality mental health care.
“Like many healthcare providers, the hospital has faced significant recruitment pressures since the pandemic and has launched a comprehensive recruitment and retention campaign to help to improve the staffing position.
“We are committed to the ongoing improvement of our vital services, and we continue to work closely with the CQC, and our commissioning partners.”
A full copy of the report can be read by CLICKING HERE
Mental health hospital warned it needs to improve patient safety following CQC inspection
