Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Ratings - Long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults

• Overall

  Requires improvement

• Safe

  Requires improvement

• Effective

  Requires improvement

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Requires improvement

Our view of the service

Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is registered with the Care Quality Commission to deliver the following regulated activities:

• Personal Care
• Nursing care
• Treatment of Disease, Disorder or Injury
• Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
• Diagnostic and Screening procedures.

We carried out an unannounced on-site inspection visiting all 3 long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust on the 10 and 11 March 2026.

We gathered information from patients and their family/carers, staff and managers, other stakeholders and our own observations of care. We reviewed a range of documents including care records, policies and procedures. We looked at all quality statements.

We visited the following sites:

• Asket Croft - a 20-bedded mixed-gender community inpatient unit that provides a supportive setting for service users in the early stages of their recovery who have a higher level of need.
• Asket House - a 16-bedded mixed community inpatient unit that provides a more independent setting for service users with a lower level of need and who are further on in their recovery but still require 24-hour support provided by the multidisciplinary team.
• Newsam Centre Ward 5 – a 17-bedded male locked ward that offers complex rehabilitation to men aged 18-65.

The inspection was planned due to the length of time since our previous inspection.

The long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults were last inspected in 2019 and were rated requires improvement with breaches of Regulation in the following areas:

• Regulation 12 – Safe Care and Treatment
• Regulation 18 – Staffing
• Regulation 17 – Good Governance

At this assessment we found 4 breaches of regulation. These were Regulation 12 safe care and treatment, Regulation 15 Premises and equipment, Regulation 17 Good governance and Regulation 18 Staffing.

Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act Compliance Summary

The provider had relevant up to date policies relating to the Mental Capacity Act and the Mental Health Act and staff could access advice on the implementation of the Mental Health Act.Staff received training in the Mental Capacity Act and the Mental Health Act and training compliance levels were as follows. For the Mental Health Act Asket Croft was at 87%, Asket House was at 82% and Newsam Ward 5 was at 86%. For Mental Capacity Act Asket Croft was at 86%, Asket House 91% and Newsam Ward 5 was at 83%.

Staff assessed patients capacity on a decision specific basis with regard to significant decisions and recorded best interests’ decisions where this was required. However, there was one occasion on Newsam Ward 5 where a best interest meeting had not been documented as taking place in relation to a safeguarding concern. We were however, assured that action had been taken to safeguard the patient in relation to the concern and ongoing discussion were documented regarding the patients care.

Staff ensured patients could take Section 17 leave (permission to leave hospital) and explained their rights in a way they could understand and repeated this where necessary. Patients had access to advocacy.

People's experience of this service

During our on-site visit we spoke with 11 patients and 2 carers of patients who used the service. We later spoke with a further 6 carers who had agreed for us to contact them via telephone calls after our on-site inspection.

Feedback from patients was generally positive. They told us that staff were respectful, caring and friendly and treated them with kindness. They told us they enjoyed the activities that were available both on and off the wards and that these were tailored to suit their needs and interests where possible. Patients told us they enjoyed cooking, going out into the local community and breakfast club.

Most patients we spoke with told us they were aware of their care plan, although 3 patients told us they were not. Most patients told us they were offered a copy of their care plan, and some had declined this offer.

Patients told us they could raise concerns and knew how to complain if they needed to. Most patients told us they would speak to their named nurse or the ward manager if they wanted to raise concerns, and they felt their concerns would be listened to. All patients we asked told us they felt safe on the wards.

Patients on Newsam Ward 5 told us that they would have liked easier access to the garden area. The garden could only be accessed with staff supervision, and staff explained this was due to the location of the garden, which was down a set of outdoor metal stairs, where staff were not able to observe patients to ensure their safety. We did however, observe that patients were able to access the garden with staff supervision, but this was not open access and therefore patients would need to wait until staff were available to access fresh air.

Patients told us they were encouraged to take charge of their own multidisciplinary meetings and to chair them if they wished to with support from staff.