Private hospital rated ‘inadequate’ again amid safety concerns

Inspectors raised serious concerns about unsafe ward environments and staff not managing patient risks at the Priory Hospital Arnold, which has beds commissioned by Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust.

The hospital was also rated “inadequate” for the safe and well-led inspection domains. However, the rating for the caring domain moved up from “requires improvement” to “good”.

Inspectors said that while the leadership team was experienced, the registered manager had been in post since April last year and the improvements they had made “had not been fully embedded”.

The registered manager had changed after the service was placed in special measures.

Ligature risks were found in patients’ bathrooms despite the provider making “some progress” and undertaking “substantial work” to remove them, the CQC said.

And in one instance, a patient had tried to harm themselves with a plastic bag which was a restricted item on the ward. 

CQC head of hospital inspection for mental health and community services Craig Howarth said staff “had not followed the patient’s risk assessment” and had not searched the patient on their return from a visit off the ward.

He added: “It was also concerning that despite rotas showing enough staff were available across the hospital, staff gave examples of when a lack of staffing had impacted on patient care and safety.

“Despite the measures in place, the risks to patients were not reduced and there was evidence of incidents of harm to patients.”

The CQC issued two warning notices “due to risks identified with safe care and treatment and good governance” to the Priory Hospital Arnold.

The hospital was originally placed in special measures last March after being criticised over hygiene and infection control failures when the regulator found dried blood, faeces, food and sputum on seclusion room walls.

Inspectors did say the wards were clean this time around and “had improved since [their] previous inspections” and that staff followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.

Staff were found to understand how to protect patients from abuse and had kept up to date with mandatory training.

They also “minimised the use of restrictive practices” and treated patients with “compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of patients”, the report said.

The service, which provides acute mental health and psychiatric intensive care wards for both men and women, must now address the most serious issues within a six-month period to come out of special measures.

If the hospital fails to improve, the CQC could take enforcement action including closing part or all of its services.

Priory Hospital Arnold responded by saying it was “disappointed the hospital remains in special measures… The fact five of the seven conditions placed on the hospital after the previous inspection have been removed shows that significant progress has been made.”

It added: “We have reassessed our staff deployments to ensure the right staff are available whenever they are required. We are continually improving our risk identification and assessment policies, which in the main are working well. The ligature point referred to in the report was the result of maintenance work taking place to improve the site and has subsequently been removed.”