- Independent mental health service
Archived: Sturt House
Assessment report published 9 June 2025
Contents
Ratings - Long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults
Our view of the service
Sturt house is a 20 bedded service and at the time of the assessment in February 2024 had a bed capacity of 20 beds. Sturt House is a hospital-based rehabilitation service for male patients providing specialist mental health treatment and rehabilitation. The service provides a recovery-focused treatment programme to enable patients to develop skills in daily living and to manage their mental health conditions.The patients using the service have stepped down from Acute and PICU services, forensic services or have been referred by staff in community rehabilitation services for more intensive support. The average length of stay is six months to three years before their discharge back to community mental health services. The core service provided is long stay/rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults. Sturt House is registered to carry out the following regulated activities: • Accommodation for persons who require treatment for substance misuse • Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 • Diagnostic and screening procedures • Treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The Care Quality Commission carried out a comprehensive inspection of Sturt House in September 2018. At that inspection the service received an overall rating of ‘Good’. We found no breaches in the 2018 inspection however we identified two areas the hospital should consider improving. This included installing a water boiler for hot drinks and organising and displaying patient information effectively on both floors of the ward. We conducted this focused inspection in February 2024 using the newly implemented single assessment framework (SAF) and looked at 5 quality statements in the Safe, Effective, Caring and Responsive key questions. We found that the patients had access to hot and cold drinks and snacks. There were display boards on both floors of the nursing station where relevant patient information was displayed.
We have not rerated any of the key questions or the overall rating for the service during this inspection.
People's experience of this service
During the inspection we spoked to 12 patients at Sturt House. Overall patients were very positive about the care they received. They told us that they were confident in the staff team and the ward manager and the team’s ability to keep them safe. They told us they were receiving the care and treatment they needed at the time they needed it, and said the staff were always available to assist them quickly.
Patients felt involved in their care with one patient telling us the staff had reviewed his care plans with him twice in the week preceding the inspection.
Patients told us they felt the staff were doing their best to help them to improve their mental health and support them to leave hospital. They felt the medicine they were receiving was suitably prescribed and regularly reviewed.