- Independent mental health service
St Andrew's Healthcare - Essex
Assessment report published 1 July 2026
Contents
Ratings
Our view of the service
St Andrew’s Healthcare Essex is provided and run by St Andrews Healthcare and is situated in North Benfleet, Essex. St Andrew's provides the following core services: An acute inpatient service for men and women, specialising in the assessment and treatment of individuals in significant mental health crisis including a psychiatric intensive care service, a low secure forensic admissions ward, and a long stay rehabilitation ward.
The location has been registered with the Care Quality Commission since 11 April 2011 and is registered to provide the following regulated activities:
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
- Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the 1983 Act.
At this inspection, we inspected 2 core services - acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units and the forensic ward. We did not re-inspect long stay rehabilitation wards at this inspection.
This service was last inspected in March 2023. At that inspection, acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units were rated as good and we found no breaches of the Health and Social Care Act regulations (2008).
In March 2023, the forensic ward was rated as good overall and we found one breach of the Health and Social Care Act Regulations - Regulation 15 HSCA (RA) Regulations 2014 Premises and equipment - 'The service must ensure that premises and equipment on forensic inpatient or secure wards are kept clean in line with current legislation and guidance'. We found improvements at this inspection and the provider is no longer in breach of this regulation.
Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units:
We carried out an inspection of acute wards for adults and the psychiatric intensive care unit on 21 and 22 April 2026. We inspected the service due to an aged rating and visited all 3 wards:
Benfleet ward – a male acute admission ward with 17 beds. There were 16 patients receiving care and treatment at the time of inspection.
Frinton Ward – a female acute admission ward with 12 beds. There were 11 patients receiving care and treatment at the time of inspection.
Audley Ward – a psychiatric intensive care unit with 12 beds. There were 4 patients receiving care and treatment at the time of inspection.
Our rating stayed the same. We rated the service as good. We found no breaches of regulations.
Forensic inpatient or secure wards
We carried out an inspection of forensic inpatient or secure wards on 21 and 22 April 2026. We inspected the service due to an aged rating and visited one ward:
Danbury Ward - a low secure ward for adult males aged 18 to 65 with complex care needs and/or personality disorder. The service aims to stabilise patients’ conditions and give them the skills to identify, understand and take responsibility for their risk behaviour so they can be supported to return to community living. At the time of the inspection, there were 16 patients on the ward.
Our rating stayed the same. We rated the service as good. We found no breaches of regulations.
The service provided safe care. The ward environments were pleasant, safe and clean. The wards had enough staff and ward teams had access to the full range of specialists to meet the needs of patients. Staff minimised the use of restrictive practices and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding. Staff completed thorough risk assessments of wards and individualised risk assessments with patients and updated these regularly and/or when risk presentation changed. Managers ensured staff received training, supervision and appraisal, and had developed strategies to boost staff wellbeing and recognise staff achievements. Feedback from patients and family members about the service was very positive. Patients told us they felt safe, and that staff were caring and treated them with kindness and respect.
Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act Compliance
Mental Health Act
The service admitted patients under the Mental Health Act 1983. At the time of the inspection, all patients were detained for assessment and/or treatment.
Staff received and kept up to date with training on the Mental Health Act and the Mental Health Act Code of Practice. Mental Health Act Code of Practice training was mandatory for staff, and the compliance rate was 95% for acute wards and 91% for the forensic ward at the time of inspection.
Staff had access to support and advice on implementing the Mental Health Act and its Code of Practice. Staff received assistance from the provider’s Mental Health Act administrator.
The service had clear, accessible, relevant and up-to-date policies and procedures that reflected all relevant legislation and the Mental Health Act Code of Practice.
Staff explained to each patient their rights under the Mental Health Act in a way that they could understand, repeated as necessary and recorded it clearly in the patient’s notes each time.
Staff made sure patients could take section 17 leave (permission to leave the hospital) when this was agreed with the responsible clinician.
Mental Capacity Act
Staff received and kept up to date with training in the Mental Capacity Act and had a good understanding of the five principles. Training on the Mental Capacity Act was mandatory for staff, and the compliance rate was 95% for acute wards and 91% for the forensic ward at the time of inspection.
On the acute wards, staff completed an assessment of each patient’s capacity to consent to admission and treatment on admission. Further assessments took place during reviews by the multidisciplinary team and at times when a patient needed to make an important decision. We looked at 6 patient care records and could see there was evidence of good assessment for mental capacity involving key staff from St Andrews, external professionals and advocacy.
We saw evidence of a capacity assessment which had been completed with a patient who was having difficulties with sleep. Staff assessed the patient’s capacity to commence a new medication to help with lack of sleep and to understand its purpose and side effects - staff concluded the patient had capacity to make this decision.
On the forensic ward, staff mostly completed an assessment of each patient’s capacity to consent to admission and treatment on admission; however, we saw one care record with no assessment present.