- SERVICE PROVIDER
Kent and Medway Mental Health NHS Trust
This is an organisation that runs the health and social care services we inspect
Assessment report published 10 November 2025
Contents
Ratings - Mental health crisis services and health-based places of safety
Our view of the service
We carried out an inspection of the trust’s mental health crisis services and health-based places of safety on 4, 5 and 5 March 2025. The crisis services and health-based places of safety form part of the trust’s mental health services in the community. This inspection was completed as part of CQC's Adult Community Mental Health Programme. We also inspected community-based mental health services for adults of working age as part of the programme. The programme of inspections contributes to CQC's commitment to inspect the standard of care in community mental health services across the country. We undertook a short notice announced, comprehensive inspection of this service, looking at all 5 key questions to assess if services are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Home treatment and rapid response teams are specialist teams of mental health professionals including nurses, doctors, social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, and support workers who provide short term support to people experiencing a mental health crisis. They aim to prevent admission to a hospital by providing treatment and support to a person in their own home. Staff provide people who use services with intensive support and treatment in a person's home, rather than a hospital setting, for those experiencing mental health crises or emergencies. These teams offer a range of therapeutic interventions including assessment, crisis intervention, medication management, therapy, and support for carers. They can help people manage and resolve their crises while minimizing disruption to their lives. Health-based place of safety (HBPoS) also known as a 136 suite, is a designated space within a hospital or other health facility where individuals detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act can be safely assessed. This secure environment allows health professionals to determine the best course of action for the individual's mental health needs, whether that's further assessment, treatment, or discharge. A health-based place of safety is not a ward for long-term admission but a place for initial assessment. People can be detained in a place of safety for up to 24 hours, allowing for the necessary assessment. Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust have five home treatment and rapid response teams: •Dartford – based in Littlebrook Hospital, Dartford and covers the Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley areas •North East Kent – based in St Martins’ Hospital, Canterbury and covers the north east of the county including Thanet •South East Kent – based in St Martins’ Hospital, Canterbury and covers the south east of the county including Ashford •West Kent – based at Priority House, Maidstone and covers West Kent. •Medway – based at Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham and covers Medway and Swale. The trust has 3 health-based places of safety (HBPoS) located at hospitals in Canterbury, Maidstone and Dartford. Each is situated on the ground floor. The HBPoS at St Martin’s Hospital in Canterbury and at Priority House in Maidstone have 2 rooms for patients detained under sections 135 or 136. There is 1 room at Littlebrook Hospital in Dartford. We spoke to 38 staff of various grades and roles. We spoke to 12 people who use services. We reviewed 25 care records. Medicines inspectors reviewed a further 10 people’s records. We observed handover and risk management meetings, and shadowed home visits. We reviewed meeting minutes, incidents and policies. We also reviewed information such as performance data and policies supplied to us by the trust, both during and after the inspection site visit. The team that inspected the mental health home treatment and rapid response services and health-based places of safety comprised 5 CQC inspectors, 1 Mental Health Act reviewer, 3 CQC pharmacist specialists (also referred to as medicines inspectors), 2 specialist advisors, and 2 experts by experience (people who have experience of using, or caring for someone who uses, services). We last inspected the service as part of a focused inspection in October and November 2018 when we rated the assessment service group as good overall. At our last inspection we found concerns around the environment and provision of information to patients of the health-based places of safety, incident reporting, and administration of clozapine reporting in the community.
People's experience of this service
We spoke to 6 people who used these services and 2 patients who were detained under the Mental Health Act in the HBPoS. People who used services gave positive feedback about their experience of the services. Most people told us they found the staff helpful and compassionate. People told us that staff treated them with respect and supported their mental health. When people experienced effective crisis support, they reported receiving rapid or immediate attention and good crisis and safety planning.
However, people and their families and carers gave feedback to their local Healthwatch about ineffective crisis response and unsuccessful coordination of continuity of care between services.