The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has upgraded the rating for child and adolescent mental health services at Cheadle Royal Hospital from 'requires improvement' to 'good' following an inspection in April. However, the overall rating for the hospital, also known as the Priory Hospital Cheadle Royal, remains 'requires improvement'.
Improvements Recognised
Inspectors found "necessary improvements" had been made, with staff treating young people with compassion and kindness, respecting their privacy and dignity. Leaders were found to have a good understanding of how the ward was run, with staff managing cases effectively.
The rating for how responsive and well-led the service is has been upgraded from 'requires improvement' to 'good', while how effective and caring it is remains 'good'.
Ongoing Concerns
Despite the upgrade, wards remain in breach of regulations relating to safe care and treatment. Inspectors noted that staff "didn't always store medicines safely", which put some young people at risk of receiving out of date or incorrectly-stored medication. They also found staff "didn't always update risk records quickly enough after incidents", meaning information about a young person's specific risks didn't always appear in their care plan.
The inspection was carried out after the CQC received "information of concern" about the Woodlands ward, a 10-bed CAMHS low secure unit. Concerns raised earlier this year included management of incidents, observations not being correctly documented, staff wellbeing, and young patients not always having access to enough food or bedding.
Background
The report comes three years after care for children and young people at the hospital was rated 'inadequate' following a CQC inspection. This followed the deaths of three young women on adult wards within weeks of each other in early 2022: mental health blogger Beth Matthews, 26, Lauren Bridges, 20, and Deseree Fitzpatrick, 30. Their deaths were not thought to be linked.
Cheadle Royal Hospital is run by Affinity Healthcare Limited, acquired by the Priory Group in 2010. The 150-bed hospital has 13 wards providing inpatient care, including acute wards for adults, psychiatric intensive care units, child and adolescent mental health wards, specialist eating disorder services, and rehabilitation and recovery services.
A Priory spokesperson said: "We're pleased to see the 'Good' rating and the recognition for our child and adolescent mental health service in the CQC report. Importantly, the report highlights that young people experience 'consistently good' outcomes, are treated with 'compassion and kindness', and are happy with the care they are receiving. Since the inspection, we have taken further action to support colleagues with record keeping to ensure care plans are able to be updated quickly, and to improve medicine storage processes. We have shared these actions with the CQC."
