- SERVICE PROVIDER
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
This is an organisation that runs the health and social care services we inspect
Assessment report published 31 March 2026
Contents
Ratings - Child and adolescent mental health wards
Our view of the service
We assessed Galaxy House on 13 January 2026.
This assessment took place due to the length of time since the last assessment. The service was last inspected in 2018.
The location of Manchester Children's hospital where the ward is based, was registered with CQC on 1 October 2017 under the provider Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust to deliver the regulated activities: Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, Diagnostic and screening procedures and Treatment of disease, disorder or injury. The service had a controlled drugs accountable officer and a Nominated Individual.
Galaxy House is a child and adolescent mental health ward for children and young people with 12 bedrooms, 2 of which were ensuite rooms. The ward specialised in caring for children and young people with an eating disorder and Pervasive Arousal Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS). There were 7 young people assigned to the ward on the day of the assessment, however one young person was on leave.
At this assessment we identified breaches of regulations: 15 Premises and equipment and 9A Visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals and hospices.
At this assessment we assessed the child and adolescent mental health wards assessment service group where we assessed 33 quality statements.
We rated the service as Good. We found 2 breaches of regulations in relation to: the ward environment and restrictions on visiting.
We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.
Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act Compliance Summary
Staff had easy access to administrative support and legal advice on implementation of the Mental Health Act and its Code of Practice. Staff knew who their Mental Health Act administrators were. The administrator was based on the ward and was approachable for the team. Staff had easy access to local Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act policies and procedures and to the Code of Practice. These were available via the staff intranet. Young people had easy access to information about independent mental health advocacy. This was displayed on the notice board in the ward. Staff explained to young people their rights under the Mental Health Act in a way that they could understand, repeated it as required and recorded that they had done this. We saw that information about people’s rights was available in different languages for young people who required this.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with 4 young people.
Young people told us that staff listened to them and developed plans that were individualised. One young person told us that Galaxy House was better than their previous ward. However, another young person told us they did not understand the reason why they were in hospital and what their treatment plan was.
Young people told us they enjoyed the activities including art, crochet, animal safari, music therapy and time off the ward including walks and visiting the park.
Young people did not like the approach where staff had their foot in the door whilst they were using the toilet or showering.
The ward environment did not meet the needs of autistic young people, they told us that the ward was too bright and toilets and bathrooms were not soundproofed. Young people did not feel their privacy and dignity was respected.
We spoke with 3 parents. Parents spoke very highly of the service, saying it was better than previous placements their child had been in. Parents valued the weekly meetings with the lead consultant and felt updated about their child’s care. They felt the service was really helping their child to recover.
However, areas that parents thought the service could improve was the therapy offered in relation to recovery and activities in school holidays and out of school time. Also, the ward environment could be more homely.
We received feedback from 2 stakeholders. Stakeholders told us the service was responsive to their requests and had effective discharge planning. Improvements have been made in response to feedback. However, areas of further development included environmental concerns, blanket approaches of liquid medicines, care plan documentation and engagement with families.