- Independent mental health service
Providence House and Moira House
Assessment report published 31 March 2026
Contents
Ratings - Child and adolescent mental health wards
Our view of the service
Providence House and Moira House are two separate adjacent properties based in Oswaldtwistle, Accrington. They provide child and adolescent mental health services to patients and are registered to provide the following regulated activities:
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury
- Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
Providence House is a 10- bed purpose-built house. All rooms have an en-suite facility. It provides care and treatment to children and young people with complex needs.
Moira House is a 10-bed step-down unit, where young people may stay for a longer period to further develop their independence and resilience skills as well as provide them with treatment and interventions to help them achieve this.
We inspected the service on 2 December 2025 because of concerns regarding risk which were raised by patients, carers and commissioners. We completed a focussed inspection and assessed the following quality statements:
- Learning culture
- Safeguarding
- Involving people to manage risk
- Safe and effective staffing
- Kindness, compassion and dignity
- Treating people as individuals
- Responding to immediate needs
- Freedom to speak up
- Good governance
We rated the service as Good. The service had a positive culture of safety, based on openness and honesty. Staff knew how to report incidents. All staff were open and transparent and fully committed to reporting incidents and near misses. Staff understood how to protect patients from abuse and the service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse, and they knew how to apply it. There was a holistic team approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment to people who use services. Care plans reflected patient’s assessed needs, and were personalised, holistic and recovery oriented. The service had enough nursing and medical staff, who knew the clients well and received appropriate training to keep people safe from avoidable harm. Leaders had a good understanding of the services they managed and could explain clearly how teams worked to provide high quality care. Staff were positive about managers and leaders, describing them as supportive, and approachable. Patients and staff felt able to speak up and raise concerns through a range of forums.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with 8 patients and 2 carers during the inspection.
Feedback from patients was mixed. Most patients told us there was enough staff on shift and that there was a member of staff available when they needed support. However, one patient described the environment as ‘hectic’.
Some patients told us they were treated with kindness, empathy and compassion. Others said that staff did not always take time to engage with them. Several patients told us they had good relationships staff. One patient told us they felt they were not cared for when incidents were taking place or other patients were distressed.
Patients generally felt safe on the wards, although two patients described a high number of incidents, including violence and aggression which they said made them feel unsafe. Several patients told us the ward was often loud, which they found unsettling.
Some patients knew their care needs and could describe the content of their care plans. Other patients said they were not offered copies of these.
Feedback about food was generally positive with patients describing a range of meal options available to them. Patients told us staff met their religious and cultural needs with regards nutrition.
Patients generally told us they knew how to access an advocate. Some patients had advocates in place. Other patients chose to decline advocacy support as they did not feel it would benefit them.
Some patients told us that they were involved in developing their care plans and risk assessments whereas other said staff had not involved them in this process.
Patients told us they could provide feedback on the service in several ways, including through surveys, community meetings and by speaking with staff.
Carers were positive about the care and treatment their loved one received. One carer said “I am very pleased with the level of care, kindness and respect, all staff have been fantastic. They’ve never shown anything less than kindness.”
One carer described good communication and told us staff contacted them on a weekly basis to provide an update. Another carer felt communication could be improved and told us that weekly calls did not go ahead.