Emerald Place Clinic

Updated 10 August 2026

We carried out an inspection of Emerald Place Clinic on 24and 25 February 2026. The inspection was unannounced. We undertook this assessment as there were several breaches found during the previous inspection in March 2024, and some further information of concern had been received. We decided to assess if the service was safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

Emerald Place Clinic has 12 bedrooms, consists of 1 mixed-sex ward and offers care and treatment to young people aged between 12 and 18 years old. It provides 24-hour specialist care and treatment for those with mental health conditions. Young people can be admitted with their consent or detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Emerald Place Clinic has an onsite school that is registered with Ofsted

The service was last inspected in 2024 and although it was rated as good overall, there were several breaches identified The breaches we found in Regulation 9, Person Centred Care in relation to blanket restrictions; Regulation 12, Safe Care and Treatment in relation to environmental risks and use of restraint; Regulation 15, Premises and Equipment, in relation to environmental safety defects and Regulation 17, Good Governance in relation to insufficient oversight and weak monitoring systems.

At this inspection, we rated the service as Good. We found that the service had good multidisciplinary working and the young people were able to access a wide range of professionals during their admission.

The young people had access to a wide range of activities and actively engaged with the team to create the activity schedule. We found the environment to be welcoming and there was evidence that young people had contributed to the decoration of the building.

We observed lots of positive interactions between staff and young people throughout our inspection. Staff treated young people with dignity and respect.

We had feedback from carers and family members that highlighted positive experiences form them and the young people.

We found that the service has a strong learning culture and has processes in place to ensure that learning from incidents are carried forward and embedded in practice.

However,

We identified one young person was prescribed 2 antipsychotic medicines resulting in a total daily dose above 100% of the British National Formulary doses, the service had not risk assessed the prescribing as high dose antipsychotic treatment (HDAT). Whilst HDAT prescribing may be appropriate, it carries a higher risk of side effects. The impact of these side effects should be managed via the HDAT processes. We were also concerned that two medicines were prescribed when required to help manage aspects of aggression and or anxiety. However, the prescribing lacked further details on when to administer which medicine in more detail. This was addressed by the service when they were informed of the cases.

Updated 23 January 2026

We completed an assessment of Emerald Place Clinic, Elysium Healthcare and assessed under the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services assessment service group.

The assessment followed CQC’s Single Assessment Framework (SAF) and considered all quality statements under each key question.

Onsite assessment activity took place between 24 and 25 February 2026.

Offsite assessment activity took place between 25 and 26 February 2026, when we gathered feedback from some staff and feedback from carers via telephone.

We spoke with 15 members of staff and 3 young people and 4 carers during the assessment.

This was an unannounced assessment, which means the service was not told an assessment was going to be starting beforehand.

The service is comprised of a purpose-built 12 bedded unit providing solely NHS funded care for young people. There is a school on site for the young people to attend however, this was not included in the assessment activity and is not regulated by the CQC.

The service had previously been assessed by CQC in March 2024. At that inspection, the overall rating was good.

At the 2024 assessment, it was identified although Emerald Place Clinic had been purpose built, there were a number of significant environmental safety issues that had not been picked up at the handover of the building. Due diligence checks did not appear to have been robust. This was a breach of Regulation 15, Premises and equipment. Alongside the external environmental safety concerns, further concerns were raised regarding whether the ward layout and space could safely and effectively accommodate 12 young people. As a result of the external environmental safety concerns, restrictions were placed on young people’s access to fresh air and physical exercise in the garden area. Staff placed blanket restrictions on all young people, meaning that all young people required 3 staff to escort them into the garden and only 1 young person could go in the garden at a time. This was not in line with assessed risk or care plans. This was a breach of Regulation 9 Person Centred Care.

During this assessment, it was evident that the service had taken the necessary steps to address the issues identified and the garden area was now a safe space for the young people to access with the appropriate supervision. There was also a private garden area which young people told us they enjoy using when having visits with their families.

In the last assessment in 2024, it was identified that there had been a lack of substantive, strong leadership at the service when it opened. Systems to ensure the safety of both young people and staff had not been effective, which had placed both young people and staff at risk. This was a breach of Regulation 12, Safe Care and Treatment. A further breach of Regulation 12, Safe Care and Treatment was identified in relation to young people not having a choice of staff in relation to the gender of staff involved in their restraint and where the restraints would take place; young people stated that they did not like being restrained in their rooms. Young females highlighted a preference to have female staff conduct enhanced observations and when having some of their needs met. During this assessment, we found that the service had a strong culture of learning and mechanisms to ensure that the safety of young people was not compromised. Young people we spoke with did not share concerns about the gender availability of staff and shared that they are offered a choice where possible. Young people collaborated with staff to create Positive Behaviour Support Plans (PBS plans) where this is highlighted.

At the 2024 assessment the décor in the ward was white and clinical, there was a lack of communal space, no dedicated activity space or quiet space; it did not meet the needs of neurodivergent young people or interests and choices of young people. This was a breach of Regulation 9 Person Centred Care.

We found during this assessment the environment to be welcoming and there was evidence that young people had contributed to the decoration of the building. There was a sensory room that was well utilised by young people.