- SERVICE PROVIDER
Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
This is an organisation that runs the health and social care services we inspect
Assessment report published 1 April 2026
Contents
Ratings - Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units
Our view of the service
Date of assessment Tuesday 13th to Wednesday 14th May 2025
The assessment was unannounced and was carried out due to an aged rating and emerging risk including whistleblowing concerns and an increase in incidents.
Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust provide 3 acute inpatient wards for adults of working age adults and 1 psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU). Wards were located across two sites: The Longley Centre and The Michael Carlisle Centre in Sheffield.
As part of this assessment, we visited all four wards;
- Dovedale 2 ward – a 12-bed male acute ward located at The Michael Carlisle Centre
- Stanage ward – a 16-bed male acute ward located at The Michael Carlisle Centre
- Burbage – a 16-bed Female acute ward located at The Michael Carlisle Centre
- Endcliffe ward – a 10-bed mixed-sex psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) located at The Longley Centre.
Dovedale 2, Burbage and Stanage wards provide care to patients on both an informal basis as well as patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 at the Michael Carlisle Centre.
Endcliffe ward was a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) and provided care to patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 and is based at the Longley Centre.
During this assessment, we identified 1 breach of the Health and Social Care Act pilot 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014;
Regulation 17 – good governance
Managers did not ensure staff complied with the trust search policy, which resulted in a blanket restriction whereby staff searched all patients upon return from leave.
Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act Compliance Summary
Mental Health Act
96% of staff were compliant with Mental Health Act training, the Code of Practice and the guiding principles at the time of this assessment. However, when discussing some aspects of the Mental Health Act, some staff did not demonstrate a full understanding of how it worked in practice.
The provider had relevant policies and procedures that reflected the most recent guidance.
Staff had access to administrative support and legal advice on the implementation of the Mental Health Act and its Code of Practice. Staff knew who their Mental Health Act administrators were. Staff carried out regular audits to ensure that the Mental Health Act was being applied correctly. However, ward staff didn’t always ensure the timely reading of Section 132 rights under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Mental Capacity Act
The provider had a policy on the Mental Capacity Act, including deprivation of liberty safeguards. Staff were aware of the policy and had access to it.
All staff were trained in the Mental Capacity Act and demonstrated understanding of how this worked in practice.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with 11 patients and 9 relatives. who told us that staff were friendly, kind, supportive, and overall, a good level of care was provided.
Relatives that we spoke with said that they felt well informed, receiving regular/daily updates on their family members care and felt involved in the care and treatment that their family member received. Relatives that we spoke with said they would feel confident to speak up with any concerns, that any of their family member’s needs would be addressed swiftly and efficiently, and that they felt any risks were managed safely.
Patients we spoke with said that they felt safe on the ward areas and that regular staff were kind and approachable. However, patients on Burbage ward told us that agency staff on night shifts tended to be unapproachable and dismissive. Some patients told us they had witnessed agency night staff to be on personal mobile phones and at times asleep. This was raised with the ward managers,and we were informed that the staff in question had been identified and managed accordingly.