The Priory Hospital Dewsbury

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

At our last inspection we rated this key question requires improvement. The service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to person centred care. The service had made improvements and was no longer in breach of regulation. They had implemented positive behaviour support plans for those patients that needed one. At this inspection the rating has changed to good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We looked at 3 care records on this ward during the assessment. We found that staff completed a comprehensive mental health assessment of each patient in a timely manner on, or soon after, admission.

Staff assessed patients’ physical health needs in a timely manner after admission and on an ongoing basis. People’s physical health needs were being met, and records evidenced this.

Staff developed care plans that met the needs identified during assessment. Care plans were personalised, holistic and recovery-oriented. Some care plans reflected the voice of the patient and patients were clearly involved in developing the plans. Other care plans were more generic but efforts to engage patients in the process were documented.

Staff updated care plans when necessary, as a result of changes to risk, developments in peoples progress or changes to peoples' personal circumstances.

Staff provided a range of care and treatment interventions suitable for the patient group. The interventions were those recommended by, and were delivered in line with, guidance from NICE . These included medication and psychological therapies and activities intended to help patients acquire living skills. Although we could see evidence that these activities were on offer at some points, there were currently vacancies within the multi-disciplinary team that limited patients’ current access to them. Some patients also told us that they would like better access to a wider range of activities on the ward. We spoke to the management team and they explained that some of the team had left recently but they were putting locum staff in place and recruiting into these vacant positions.

Staff ensured that patients had good access to physical healthcare, including access to specialists when needed. Whilst looking at care records we saw lots of examples of patients being supported and encouraged to attend and engage in appointments relating to their physical health.

Staff participated in clinical audit, benchmarking and quality improvement initiatives. We saw evidence of a wide range of periodic audits being carried out. These audits contained detailed actions where necessary, for example where administrative errors were seen in paperwork that should be completed.

At the time of our visit the team did not include the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of patients in the service. There were vacancies for several roles. However, recruitment was underway to rectify this issue, and temporary staff were being drafted in to support the team in the meantime. The team had access to doctors and nurses, social workers, pharmacists, speech and language therapists and dieticians, to meet the needs of the patients on the ward.

Staff were experienced and qualified and had the right skills and knowledge to meet the needs of the patient group. Managers provided new staff with appropriate induction.

Managers provided staff with supervision and appraisal of their work performance and ensured they had access to regular team meetings. The percentage of staff that had an appraisal in the last 12 months was 100%. The percentage of staff that received regular supervision was 100%.

Managers ensured that staff received the necessary specialist training for their roles. A series of bespoke sessions had been made available to staff that were intended to increase their ability and confidence in supporting the patient group.

Staff held regular and effective multidisciplinary meetings and shared information about patients at effective handover meetings within the team. Handovers were carried out between each shift change and were attended by all staff.

The teams had effective working relationships, including good handovers, with other relevant teams that supported their patients, care co-ordinators, community mental health teams and safeguarding teams.

Staff supported patients to live healthier lives, for example, through participation in smoking cessation schemes, healthy eating advice, and dealing with issues relating to substance misuse. Some patients care plans specifically addressed areas relating to heathy eating and increasing the amount of exercise they took part in.

Ward activities helped promote a healthy lifestyle for patients, we saw participation in walking groups, sports activities, including access to an onsite gym and cooking healthy meals.

Staff used recognised rating scales to assess and record severity and outcomes, these were used for both mental and physical health outcomes. Staff were able to show how patients were progressing through their treatment and there were examples of positive treatment episodes where patients had moved on to new placements.

Staff used technology to support patients effectively, for example accessing and storing medical results electronically where needed and most of the patients’ records were stored electronically which made information sharing simpler.

Staff took all practical steps to enable patients to make their own decisions. There were several different ways that patients could feed into the development of the service and the way it operated. People were offered a range of activities in and out of the ward and in the community where it was possible. People were offered a range of options at mealtimes, and these included the option to cook for yourself where it was appropriate.

We looked at mental capacity paperwork for 6 patients. For patients who might have impaired mental capacity, staff assessed and recorded capacity to consent appropriately. They did this on a decision-specific basis with regard to significant decisions such as treatment, finances and vaccinations. When patients lacked capacity, staff made decisions in their best interests, recognising the importance of the person’s wishes, feelings, culture and history