Firshill Rise: Sheffield NHS unit remains shut after safety issues raised

Firshill Rise had been temporarily shut to new admissions after safety issues were raised by the CQC

An NHS service, which closed in 2021 when it failed to protect vulnerable patients from abuse and neglected their needs, has not yet reopened.

Firshill Rise, in Sheffield, was shut after an inspection found issues with safety at the seven-bed unit.

Inspectors found staff ignored requests from users for food and drink, as well as safeguarding concerns designed to protect people from abuse.

A council meeting will at what has been learned from the site later.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) banned the admission of new patients unless it had given written permission.

It said "the service was not safe with concerns about staffing skills and training, medications management and safeguarding".

A report before Sheffield City Council's health scrutiny sub-committee later is to look at what has been learned from the serious failures found at the unit.

• Autism and disability unit shut over safety issues

The CQC inspectors found management systems were poor, patients and relatives were not involved in care planning and patients stayed too long on the unit.

Users included those with learning disabilities and most people would stay for about six months, but one person had been there for two years.

A report to the council committee said it has remained closed during a period of quality review, but also because there were difficulties in recruiting specialist staff to reopen the service.

The NHS trust apologised for the failures and a review took place of the leadership of the learning disability service.

Improvements put in place include new leadership structures, better training, safeguarding procedures, increased scrutiny and whistleblowing policies.

Tougher controls had been brought in for restrictive practices and segregation of patients, and regular visits by patient advocates put in place.

Demand for beds at Firshill Rise had since dropped to zero after an overhaul in the way that in-patient care was organised.