The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated Cygnet Hospital Wyke in Bradford inadequate and placed it into special measures to keep people safe, following an inspection in January which found significant improvements needed to be made.
Cygnet Hospital Wyke is an independent mental health hospital provided by Cygnet Health Care Limited. The hospital is registered to provide care and treatment to up to 46 people.
The inspection took place due to concerns CQC received about the quality of care being provided to people.
Following the inspection the services were rated:
- Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units (Bennu and Phoenix wards) – overall and well-led have been re-rated as requires improvement, safe has improved from inadequate to requires improvement. Effective, caring and responsive have improved from requires improvement to good
- Long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults (Adarna ward) – has declined from requires improvement to inadequate overall and for being safe and well-led. It has been re-rated requires improvement for being effective, caring and responsive.
The overall rating for the hospital, as well as being well-led has dropped from requires improvement to inadequate. Safe has again been rated inadequate. Effective, caring and responsive have been re-rated as requires improvement.
The service has been placed in special measures which means it will be kept under close review to make sure people are safe and, if CQC do not propose to cancel their registration, there will be a re-inspection to check for significant improvements.
The provider has also been issued with a warning notice, to focus their attention on making significant, rapid improvements to its systems and processes around medicines management, its paper records system, as well as suitability of the environment for autistic people and people with a learning disability.
Sheila Grant, CQC deputy director of operations in the north said:
“Over the last few years, Cygnet Hospital Wyke has a history of providing care which is below the standard that people have a right to expect, despite several interventions by CQC. There is a history of us telling the hospital where they need to improve, but the changes not being widespread, rapid, or embedded well enough to be sustained, which is what we found again at this most recent inspection. It’s also why we have placed them into special measures, which they exited in February 2021, in order to keep people safe.
“We still had concerns across both services, around medicines management. We found staff weren’t always completing medicine records appropriately. For example, during the inspection we identified a serious issue with medicine records being altered by staff. We saw gaps in records which had then been completed by staff retrospectively. This meant people were put at unnecessary risk of harm from potential mistakes being made.
“On Adarna ward, people told us staff weren’t always sensitive to their needs, and they felt the ward was noisy and chaotic. Due to this people spent a lot of time in their bedrooms and some people wore ear defenders. This is totally unacceptable, and improvements must be made to ensure autistic people and people with a learning disability on this ward receive the high standard of specialist care they need and deserve.
“However, on the Bennu and Phoenix wards, people told us they felt safer than they did when we spoke with them at our last inspection.
“Due to the significant issues we found at this inspection, we issued the provider with a warning notice highlighting where we expect to see them take urgent action to keep people safe.
“We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to take further action if people aren’t receiving the care they have a right to expect.”
Inspectors found:
- The service did not manage medicines, medicine fridges and medical supplies safely and risk assessments were not always complete
- There were lots of out-of-date medical supplies in the clinic room. This included needles, syringes, test fluid for the glucose monitor, dressings and gauze. Some of the equipment was out of date by three years
- People weren’t always cared for in wards which were safe, clean, well equipped or fit for purpose. There was food on the floor, stained furniture, cigarette ends in the lounge and some of the furniture was ripped
- Staff on Adarna ward did not always understand the individual needs of people. They did not always actively involve families and carers in care decisions. Care plans on Adarna ward were not always of sufficient quality and detail to meet the needs of people
- Physical health was not always managed safely on Adarna ward in respect of bowel monitoring, particularly for people taking medication that caused a risk of bowel obstruction
- On Adarna ward staff restricted people’s access to items on the ward and this was not always based on individual needs.
However:
- There was enough staff working on the wards to keep people safe with low levels of vacancies. The wards had enough nurses and doctors
- The ward teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of people on the wards
- Therapeutic activities took place and people described things they enjoyed doing both on and off the wards.