10-18 January 2023
During a routine inspection
The service remains in 'special measures.' This means we will keep the service under review and, if we do not propose to cancel the provider's registration, we will re-inspect within 6 months to check for significant improvements.
If the provider has not made enough improvement within this time frame and there is still a rating of inadequate for any key question or overall rating, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures. This will mean we will begin the process of preventing the provider from operating this service. This will usually lead to cancellation of their registration or to varying the conditions the registration.
Priory Hospital East Midlands is in Annesley in Nottingham and is one of the hospitals of Partnership in Care Limited. It has two female wards: one specialist acute ward and one psychiatric intensive care ward. The service works with patients in achieving their goals and preparing them to move back into the community, or into other appropriate accommodation. We carried out this unannounced inspection because we received information giving us concerns about the safety and quality of the service.
Our rating of this location improved. We rated it as requires improvement because:
- The ward environments were not always and clean. There was a lack of cleaning staff to ensure that the hospital was cleaned regularly.
- Staff were not able to fully observe patients in the seclusion room due to the observation area in the bathroom section of the seclusion room being used for storage.
- Staff did not adhere to infection control procedures in relation the laundry of patients and staff clothing and bedding.
- Staff did not always assess and managed risk well in relation to manage items that are deemed to be a risk for individuals. When managing risk staff did not use the correct practice when performing restrictive interventions.
- Managers did not always ensure that these staff received training, supervision, and appraisal. Staff had not received additional specialised training to support the care and treatment of patients.
- Medical staff did not follow the providers policy when admitting patients to the service, this meant that patients physical health was not complete in a timely way and medication had not been prescribed. Whilst the service had an on-call duty doctor system in place, the doctor on call was not always contactable.
- Patients were not always discharged promptly once their condition warranted this or changed.
- Staff did not always treat patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of patients.
- Leadership had recently changed, and governance process and systems were still not fully embedded.
However:
- Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the patients and in line with national guidance about best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
- The ward teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of patients on the wards. The ward staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team.
- The wards had enough nurses and doctors. They minimised the use of restrictive practices and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.
- Staff understood and discharged their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- The service managed beds well so that a bed was always available locally to a person who would benefit from admission.