Cygnet Hospital Colchester

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• Overview
• Person-centred Care
• Care provision, Integration and continuity
• Providing Information
• Listening to and involving people
• Equity in access
• Equity in experiences and outcomes
• Planning for the future

This means we looked for evidence that the service met people’s needs.

At our last assessment we rated responsive as good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. Staff managed beds well. A bed was available when a patient needed one. Patients were not moved between wards except for their benefit. The design, layout, and furnishings of the ward supported patients’ treatment, privacy and dignity. Staff supported patients with activities outside the service, such as work, education and family relationships. The service met the needs of all patients – including those with a protected characteristic. Staff helped patients with communication, advocacy and cultural and spiritual support. The service treated concerns and complaints seriously, investigated them and learned lessons from the result.

We have not awarded this service a score for Responsive.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Responsive.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service made sure people were at the centre of their care and treatment choices and they decided, in partnership with people, how to respond to any relevant changes in

Staff described using clear communication methods and accessible materials, such as easy-read formats, to ensure patients understood their care and treatment options.

Systems were in place to ensure joint decision-making between staff and patients, with care plans reflecting patients physical, mental, and social needs. Staff we spoke with told us they regularly involved patients and their families, using person-centred approaches consistently. We observed staff responding promptly and respectfully to patients’ needs.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service understood the diverse health and care needs of people and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.

Staff carefully planned patients’ discharge and worked with care managers and coordinators to make sure this went well. We saw evidence of discharge planning in all the care records we looked at. The service had a ‘Transfer and Discharge’ policy, updated in June 2025, which was aligned with statutory guidance and legal duties as outlined in the NHS Act 2006 and the Care Act 2014.

Staff undertook capacity assessments and best interest meetings and used easy read materials and communication aids to support patients with conversations about discharge and where they would be living after they left the hospital.

Staff supported patients to maintain contact with their families and carers. Family and carer contact was facilitated flexibly and effectively, including using video calls.

Staff supported patients to access the community and take part in activities outside the hospital. Staff had made links with local colleges, voluntary work centres, a private leisure centre and Colchester United football club. The service had a community police liaison officer who attended the hospital to offer a weekly drop-in for staff and patients. Staff from the hospital had provided mental health and autism awareness training to a local shop to help people working there understand patients’ difficulties and support them with their shopping.

Staff supported patients to access their chosen place of worship within the community.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service supplied appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

The service provided appropriate, accurate and up-to-date information in formats that were tailored to individual needs.

Staff had access to the equipment and information technology needed to do their work.

Team managers had access to information to support them with their management role. This included information on the performance of the service, staffing and patient care. This information was presented and discussed in clinical governance meetings.

Staff made notifications to external bodies as needed. The service submitted notifications to the Care Quality Commission in accordance with the requirements of their registration. The service submitted safeguarding referrals to the local authority.

Information governance systems included confidentiality of patient records. Records were maintained in line with the providers policies and procedures, ensuring personal information was securely safeguarded.

Staff ensured that patients could obtain information on treatments, local services, patients’ rights and how to complain. Staff provided information in accessible formats to meet patients’ communication needs. Individual communication requirements were clearly recorded in patients’ care plans and regularly reviewed to ensure they remained appropriate.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service made it easy for people to share feedback and ideas, or raise complaints about their care, treatment and support. They involved people in decisions about their care and told them what had changed as a result.

Patients, relatives and carers knew how to complain or raise concerns. We saw that information about how to make a complaint and how to raise concerns with the Care Quality Commission was available in an easy read format on noticeboards throughout the wards. Advocates were welcomed and visited the ward regularly to support patients with raising concerns or giving feedback. One advocate told us when concerns are raised, they were generally addressed and dealt with in a timely manner. All the carers we spoke with told us they knew how to make a complaint if they needed to. In the 2025 staff survey 96% of staff agreed that Cygnet acted on concerns raised by service users.

Staff facilitated community meetings and a monthly people’s council to enable patient to discuss complaints and concerns. All managers, staff and patients were invited to attend the people’s council, and everyone had an equal opportunity to raise concerns and suggest improvements for the hospital as well as provide positive feedback. These meetings were jointly led by a patient and a staff member. Following the meeting an action log was completed with a lead person and date for completion identified.

Staff knew how to acknowledge complaints and tried to swiftly resolve complaints informally with patients. Between October and December 2025, the hospital director received 1 formal complaint for Oak Ward. The complaint was from a family member regarding therapeutic interventions and was not upheld.

We viewed the compliments log for the hospital and saw a high number of compliments recorded from patients, family members and external stakeholders praising staff and the care and treatment at the hospital.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service made sure that people could access the care, support and treatment they needed when they needed it.

The service ensured patients could access care, treatment, and support tailored to their individual needs. Through effective assessment processes, staff identified and removed barriers to care, particularly for individuals with complex needs or protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

Staff made reasonable adjustments for patients – for example, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists completed assessments and recommended adaptations required, which the service implemented.

There was adequate medical cover day and night, a doctor could attend the service quickly in an emergency and the hospital was within a reasonable travelling distance to the local acute hospital.

Staff ensured the needs of people with mobility issues were met. The service had arrangements for people requiring disabled access.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. Staff and leaders actively listened to information about people who are most likely to experience inequality in experience or outcomes and tailored their care, support and treatment in response to this.

Staff within the service and the wider organisation promoted a culture in which the people using the service felt empowered to give their views. Patients had community meetings and people’s council meetings to discuss any issues, concerns or to discuss daily activities.

Patient’s communication needs were always met. The service had accessible information available in different prints, symbols, photos and images. People were provided with communication information cards if required. We observed pictorial signs throughout the building including a pictorial image of peoples’ rehabilitation pathway which ends with a house as a planned outcome. There was a board with staff’s pictures, so patients knew who the staff were.

Managers made sure staff and people could get help from interpreters or signers when needed.

The service had clear policies aligned with equality, diversity, and inclusion principles to prevent disadvantage and promote fairness for all, including those with protected characteristics. The service had signed up to the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF). PCREF is a national framework, launched by NHS England, designed to tackle racial disparities in mental health care and improve outcomes for diverse communities.

At the time of inspection 97.4% of staff had completed mandatory training in diversity and inclusion.

The multidisciplinary team planned for each patient’s discharge and move to a community setting, supported accommodation. Staff ensured that appropriate arrangements were in place to sustain the patient’s mental health. This included liaising with health and social care professionals in the patient’s local area to ensure they had appropriate accommodation to be discharged to and that a package of care was provided by the local mental health services.