Catalogue of issues found at 'inadequate' hospital

Burton Park Hospital has been rated "inadequate" again

A Leicestershire hospital that has failed every inspection since it opened in 2014 has been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Burton Park Hospital, in Melton Mowbray, predominantly provides care and treatment for patients with "acquired or traumatic brain injuries".

Priory Healthcare, which runs the hospital, said it had since "acted quickly to address concerns".

Inspectors visited its wards in November and found a catalogue of problems.

In one case, a patient had been pinned to the floor for two minutes - a form of restraint that should only be used in exceptional circumstances and for the shortest time possible - by two temporary staff members.

The CQC said neither of the temporary members of staff had received training on restrictive interventions.

While managers on the ward immediately booked them in for it, that lack of training had placed "patients at significant risk of avoidable harm", the inspection team ruled.

Further concerns were raised by the watchdog over medicine management and administration, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Two patients needed their medicines administered covertly, for example disguised in food or drink.

However, there was no guidance in their records on how the medication should be crushed.

The CQC determined these omissions put the patients at risk of avoidable harm.

Not enough staff

Between November 2022 and November 2023, the service had used temporary staff to cover 16,420 shifts.

The hospital blamed the use of agency staff on recruitment difficulties in the local area. It said it had recruited more permanent staff since the inspection.

The service "did not have enough substantive nursing and support staff to keep patients safe", inspectors ruled.

The reliance on temporary staff "increased the risk of people receiving inconsistent care as agency staff were not always familiar with patient's care plans or routines", they added.

Ultimately, inspectors said, the hospital was found to have had repeated breaches of the Health and Social Care Act since it was registered with the CQC in 2014.

The hospital has been rated either requires improvement or inadequate in every inspection since its registration.

Inspectors said: "There has been little evidence of sustained improvement in the quality of this service."

A spokesperson for the hospital said: "Although improvements were under way before the CQC visit, we accepted the findings in this report and have acted quickly to address concerns, including around medicines management."