Heathfield hospital ‘requires improvements’ according to new inspection

In December the inspection took place to see if improvements had been made since previous inspections undertaken in June, July and September 2020.

The CQC said this recent inspection rated the hospital as ‘requiring improvements’ in relation to whether it is well-led, effective and responsive to people’s needs. It was rated ‘good’ for being safe and caring.

The Priory Hospital Heathfield is a specialist neurorehabilitation service that provides post-acute neuro-behavioural rehabilitation for people with an acquired brain injury and offers long term care and support to people with complex needs relating to progressive neurological conditions.

Karen Bennett-Wilson, CQC’s head of hospital inspection for mental health, said, “Following our inspections of The Priory Hospital Heathfield in July and September 2020, we served the provider with urgent notices of decision to impose conditions on the registration of the service, as we believed that people may have been exposed to risk of harm had we not done so.

“When we inspected in December, we found that the provider had met the conditions imposed on their registration, although more still needed to be done to support patients with communication needs.

“We have now told the provider that it must ensure that all care planning is rehabilitation and recovery focused and that it must provide a range of suitable activities to support and meet the needs of all patients. Staff must also ensure they are aware of patient’s communication needs and use the necessary tools to aid communication. We will continue to monitor the service and will return to review the progress made in due course.”

The CQC gave the following reasons for the rating;

• The hospital did not provide a range of suitable treatments for patients in mental health rehabilitation wards in line with national guidance and best practice.

• Inspectors found limited evidence of individualised therapeutic input and care focused on rehabilitation.

• Staff did not always ensure that care plans were personalised and that patient monitoring charts were completed thoroughly.

• Staff were not always using communication aids to support patients with communication difficulties

Despite this, inspectors reported several positive findings:

• There was a new leadership team in place at the hospital who had the experience, knowledge and skills to manage the service.

• The hospital provided safe care. It was clean and tidy, and the wards were calm.

• There were enough nursing staff on the wards, and they were spending time with patients.

• Staff managed medicines safely and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.

• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness and respected their privacy and dignity and all staff interactions with patients were caring and respectful.

• Staff access to paper-based and electronic clinical information had improved since the precious inspection and records had been kept up-to-date.

In response to the inspection, a spokesperson for The Priory Hospital said, “We have implemented a comprehensive action plan to address the issues raised by the CQC. All patients have personalised care plans, we have improved our patient communications, and we are working hard to introduce additional, specialised treatments.

“We are pleased the CQC notes several positive findings including us having a new leadership team, with the skills and knowledge to manage the service, that we provide safe care, and that we treat patients with kindness and compassion. We are working tirelessly to ensure we offer the best quality of care to those we have the privilege of looking after.”

Full details of the inspection can be read in the online report: https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-127047849