Priory Hospital Cheadle: Mental health services criticised amid safety fears

The inspection did not assess the whole hospital, which is rated good in the caring, effective and responsive categories

Mental health services at a hospital run by The Priory Group have been ordered to improve amid safety concerns.

Services in three wards dedicated to child and adolescent mental health at Cheadle Royal Hospital were rated inadequate following an unannounced inspection.

It comes after three young women died at the hospital in 2022.

The Priory Group said it "disputed many aspects of the report".

Health blogger Beth Matthews, 26, took her own life at a unit at the hospital in March last year, with an inquest later declaring she had been failed by the hospital.

The hospital has 13 wards and can treat up to 150 patients with a range of mental health conditions - although the inspection only reviewed the three child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) wards.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found they did not have enough nursing and medical staff with basic training to keep people safe from avoidable harm, alongside broken windows and graffiti at the site.

Beth Matthews died after taking a poisonous substance she ordered online

January's inspection also found breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, premises and equipment, systems and staffing.

The CQC said services would be inspected again in future to assess whether improvements have been made.  

The hospital remains rated as requires improvement overall and good in the caring, effective and responsive categories.

The CQC's Alison Chilton said the wards "weren't well-led and information systems didn't ensure they ran smoothly".

"People shouldn't have to live in an environment with these poor conditions," she said, demanding that the issues were addressed as a "priority".

She also said some young people told inspectors agency staff "didn't always treat them with dignity and respect" and it was "concerning" some carers "weren't informed" about incidents.

The report did note, however, that most staff treated the young people with "compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood their individual needs".

The Priory Group insisted it had invested heavily in staff recruitment over the last year

Staff also "worked well together" as a multi-talented team and with those who provide aftercare, she said.

She also said the service provided a range of treatments in line with national guidance about best practice.

The Priory's chief executive officer Rebekah Cresswell, said the group was "disappointed" and the inadequate rating "does not accurately reflect the quality of our child and adolescent mental health services at Cheadle".

She said the group disputed "the factual accuracy of many aspects of the report" and the "misrepresentation of our service" was "unhelpful" both to patients and their carers and "our dedicated and hard-working staff".

Ms Cresswell cited many positive aspects found by inspectors including that "all wards were safe, clean, well-equipped, well-furnished and fit for purpose", patient incidents were managed well, our staff were "discreet, respectful, and responsive when caring for children and young people".

Patients felt staff were "supportive, kind, respectful and caring", she said.

She added the group had invested £360,000 this year in refurbishing the high dependency care ward for young people, with almost £2m invested since January 2022 overall.

The facility had also increased staffing levels, recruiting 99 new permanent workers at Cheadle this year.

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