St Andrews Healthcare Northampton

Ratings

• Overall

  Inadequate

• Safe

  Inadequate

• Effective

  Requires improvement

• Caring

  Requires improvement

• Responsive

  Requires improvement

• Well-led

  Inadequate

Our view of the service

We assessed St Andrews Healthcare Northampton from 4 March to 9 April 2025. This assessment was carried out following the CQC’s new approach to assessment; Single Assessment Framework (SAF).

St Andrew's Healthcare is a registered charity specialising in the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of people with psychiatric disorders, including people with developmental disabilities. The providers’ vision is to be the national leader in specialist mental health care.
St Andrews Hospital Northampton has five service divisions. These are:
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS),
• Autism Spectrum Disorder and Learning Disability Division (ASD/LD)
• Medium Secure Division,
• Low Secure and Specialist Rehabilitation Division, Acute and Psychiatric Intensive care units,
• Neuropsychiatry Division.

We assessed the service to review the progress made against the warning notice that was served to the provider following the inspection in April 2024. We found that the service had not made improvements to meet the actions of the warning notice.

St Andrews Healthcare was registered with CQC in July 2023 as a single location to deliver the regulated activities: Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

We visited the following wards as part of our assessment:

• Naseby, a 10 bedded acute ward for males
• Heygate, a 10 bedded acute ward for males
• Bayley, a 15 bedded psychiatric intensive care unit for males
• Elm ward, a 10 bedded ward, a specialist older adult service for males with complex dementia and / or progressive neurological conditions, who present with cognitive deficits
• Cherry ward, a 12 bedded specialist older adult service for females with complex dementia and / or progressive neurological conditions, including Huntington's disease, who present with cognitive deficits
• Aspen ward, a 8 bedded specialist older adult Admission service for males with complex dementia and / or progressive neurological conditions, who present with cognitive deficits.
• Tallis ward, a 11 bedded ward for males requiring acute care and stabilisation
• Allitsen ward, a 14 bedded ward for males requiring care and rehabilitation
• Elgar ward, a 12 bedded ward for females requiring rehabilitation
• Walton ward, a 14 bedded ward for males with Huntington’s Disease
• 19 The Avenue, a 2 bedded unit providing community facing rehabilitation
• 38 Berkey Close, a 2 bedded unit providing community facing rehabilitation
• Limetree Cottage, a single occupancy support transition service for males with a learning disability or autism
• Billing Lodge, a single occupancy supported transition service for females with a learning disability or autism
• Glendale, a single occupancy supported transition service for females with a learning disability or autism
• Silverstone, a 14 bedded locked ward providing dialectical behaviour treatment and emotionally unstable personality disorder rehabilitation to females
• Watkins House, a 6 bedded locked ward providing long stay rehabilitation to females
• 37 Berkely Close, a 3 bedded locked ward providing long stay rehabilitation for males
• Sitwell, a single occupancy locked ward providing long stay rehabilitation for females
• Berkeley Lodge, a 6 bedded locked ward providing long stay rehabilitation for males
• Seacole, a 10 bedded low secure ward for males and females under the age of 18
• Spencer North, a 14 bedded low secure rehabilitation and recovery service for male aged 18+ with complex mental health needs
• Spencer South, a 14 bedded low secure rehabilitation and recovery service for males aged 18+ with complex mental health needs
• Bracken, a 10 bedded medium secure admission ward for females
• Oak, a 10 bedded recovery orientated medium secure ward for females aged over 18 with a learning disability or autism
• Acorn, a 10 bedded specialist low secure stabilisation and treatment service for men who may also have a forensic history with distressed behaviour
• Berry, a 10 bedded low secure stabilisation and treatment service for males who may also have a forensic history with distressed behaviour
• Fairbairn, a 17 bedded medium secure ward for deaf males
• Cranford, a 17 bedded medium secure ward for males over the age of 55 years old
• Robinson, a 17 bedded secure admission war for adult females with a mental health diagnosis
• Maple, a 10 bedded medium secure ward for females
• Meadow, a 10 bedded medium secure admission, stabilisation and treatment service for men with a forensic history and distressed behaviour

At this assessment we identified breaches of regulations: 9 Person Centred Care, 12 Safe Care and Treatment, 13 Safeguarding, 15 Premises and Equipment, 17 Good Governance and 18 Staffing.

At this assessment we assessed 6 assessment service groups: Forensic inpatient or secure wards where we assessed 33 quality statements, Wards for older people with mental health problems where we assessed 33 quality statements, Services for people with acquired brain injury where we assessed 33 quality statements, Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units where we assessed 33 quality statements, Long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults where we assessed 33 quality statements and Wards for people with a learning disability or autism where we assessed 33 quality statements.

We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

We rated the service as Inadequate. In the forensic inpatient or secure wards, we found 5 breaches of the regulations in relation to blanket restrictions, environmental concerns, lack of suitably trained and skilled staff, lack of oversight and poor risk management.

In the wards for older people with mental health problems we found 5 breaches of the regulations in relation to people not receiving person centred care, poor risk management, blanket restrictions, poor oversight of quality and risks and staffing.

In the services for people with acquired brain injury, we found 1 breach in relation to blanket restrictions.

In long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults we found 6 breaches of the regulations in relation to capacity to consent to care and treatment, infection prevention and control processes, blanket restrictions, maintenance risks recording, lack of oversight of governance processes, lack of suitably trained staff to provide care in line with the clinical treatment model.

In wards for people with a learning disability or autism we found 5 breaches of the regulations in relation to the implementation of positive behavioural support plans, incident reporting, safeguarding, ineffective governance processes and staffing.

We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.

In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against a provider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/ or appeals have been concluded.

This service is being placed in special measures. The purpose of special measures is to ensure that services providing inadequate care make significant improvements. Special measures provide a framework within which we user our enforcement powers in response to inadequate care and provide a timeframe within which providers must improve the quality of the care they provide.