Arbury Court

Ratings

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Requires improvement

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

We inspected Arbury Court from 3 to 4 February 2026.

Arbury Court provides medium and low secure care and Psychiatric Intensive Care (PICU) for women aged 18 years and over with Personality Disorder (PD) and mental illness.

Arbury Court is a modern, spacious facility with extensive grounds for the patients. There is a dedicated occupational therapy and activities area with a patient shop, gymnasium, and salon. Each patient has a private en-suite bedroom, which can be personalised. Patients take an active role in the day-to-day working of the hospital through participation in meetings, staff recruitment, peer support, and volunteering in various vocational work roles within the hospital and the local community.

We carried out an unannounced inspection of all 3 forensic inpatient or secure wards and acute wards for adults of working age / psychiatric intensive care units at the service. The service had, prior to the inspection, undergone a reconfiguration of wards and staff, leading to a reduced number of forensic inpatient or secure wards, and the closure of an acute ward. The inspection was the result of consideration of risk and to follow up on actions from the previous inspection, published in June 2025.

Arbury Court is registered 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. At the time of the inspection, the service was going through the process of registering a new Registered Manager.

We visited the following wards as part of the assessment:

Hartford ward, a female Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) with 10 beds

Oakmere ward, a female medium secure with 15 beds

Daresbury ward, a female low secure with 14 beds

Delamere ward, a female low secure with 12 beds

At this inspection we assessed 2 assessment service groups; Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units where we assessed 33 quality statements and Forensic inpatient or secure wards where we assessed 33 quality statements.

At this assessment we identified a breach of regulation 12 safe care and treatment.

In the acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units, we found 1 breach of regulation in relation to safe environments and effective ligature risk assessment.

In the forensic inpatient or secure wards inspection, we found 1 breach of regulation in relation to safe environments and effective ligature risk assessment. The service was in breach of legal regulation 12 (2) (d) of the Health and Social Care Act (2008), in that the ligature assessments for the service were not accurate or relevant to the locations assessed.

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