Mental health services unsafe, inspectors find – BBC News

A hospital which provides mental health services to adults and young people has been urged to urgently improve “dangerous” elements of its care.

Cheadle Royal Hospital, also known as Priory Hospital Cheadle Royal, was inspected by the Care Quality Commission earlier this year.

The watchdog retained its overall rating of “requires improvement” but lowered it to “inadequate for safety.”

The hospital said it had “resolved the issues raised” since the inspection.

Priory Hospital Cheadle Royal provides psychiatric care for adults, children and young people, as well as specialist treatment for eating disorders.

Its unannounced inspection took place in February and March, less than a year after its last inspection in April 2022.

The watchdog said hospital operators were given a warning to focus their attention on rapid improvements in physical health monitoring and medication management.

The hospital, near Stockport, Greater Manchester, was criticized during the investigation into health blogger Beth Matthews, 26, who committed suicide in a hospital unit in March 2022, by swallowing a toxic substance.

Ms Matthews was being treated as an NHS patient for a personality disorder – but an inquest jury concluded she died of suicide due to neglect.

A BBC investigation found two other women had died in hospital – Lauren Bridges and Deseree Fitzpatrick – in the previous two months.

The hospital said the deaths were “extremely tragic” but “unrelated.”

In 2022, only three of the hospital’s 13 child and adolescent mental health wards were inspected. This time, seven wards were visited, including acute care wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units; mental health services for children and adolescents; and specialist eating disorder services.

The CQC report, just published, says staff are not always able to prescribe, administer and record medicines safely.

Health screening and monitoring were not always carried out in accordance with national guidelines, and records were not always completed correctly or consistently.

Alison Chilton, the CQC’s deputy director of operations in the north, said inspectors had found a deterioration in the safety of care provided.

She said: “While there have been some improvements in terms of staffing levels and culture since the previous inspection in April last year, there are some areas that still need to be addressed.

“We were concerned that leaders did not have a clear process in place to ensure people were monitored after rapid reassurance.

“Additionally, screening for blood clots should have taken place when people were admitted to the service, but this was not always the case. The provider must address this issue as a priority to keep people safe. “

A hospital spokesperson said the report was “largely positive” and addressed the issues raised, noting the inspection took place more than seven months ago.

They said in a statement: “We have updated our medicines management procedures and more staff have completed our specialist training.

“We were delighted to read that inspectors found that our staff treated patients with compassion, kindness and understanding of their individual needs, with patients giving positive feedback about how safe they felt in our services.”

The CQC also maintains a “good” rating for the hospital in the caring, effective and responsive categories.

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