Cygnet Bury Hudson

Updated 1 June 2023

Cygnet Bury Hudson hospital provides low and medium secure inpatient services for men: There are six wards and 78 beds:

• West Hampton ward –13 bed medium secure ward for males (due to reopen, date unknown)
• Lower East ward – 13 bed medium secure ward for males
• Madison ward – 13 bed medium secure ward for males with a personality disorder
• Columbus ward – 13 bed medium secure ward for males with a personality disorder
• Upper East ward – 13 bed low secure ward for males
• East Hampton ward – 13 bed low secure ward for males

The service has a registered manager. It has been registered with the Care Quality Commission since 30 April 2021 to carry out the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The hospital was last inspected in June 2022 where it was rated inadequate overall.

• Safe – Inadequate
• Effective – good
• Caring – Inadequate
• Responsive – Requires improvement
• Well-led – Inadequate

The hospital was placed in special measures. When an independent healthcare service is in special measures it is the provider’s responsibility to improve it. We expect the provider to seek out appropriate support to improve the service from its own resources, and from other relevant organisations or oversight bodies or both.

What people who use the service say

Carers we spoke to said that staff went above and beyond their job roles and were worth their weight in gold. Carers commented that they had a lot of admiration for all the staff and they were extremely polite and caring.

Carers felt that their loved ones had improved in their appearance and wellbeing.

Carers said they were well informed and involved in loved ones care and that any concerns were addressed promptly.

Carers were able to describe activities their loved ones were engaged in which included, the recovery college, gym, playing pool, watching football, gardening, attending to the chickens, cleaning jobs, attending university three times a week and painting and woodworking courses.

Some carers commented that patients had too many takeaways and there were not enough occupational therapy activities for patients without leave.

Two carers confirmed their loved ones leave had been cancelled.

Patients told us that they felt involved in their care and that staff treated them with kindness and respect. Patients commented that the service had improved in recent months. Improvements had included the patient forums, pool tables, less agency staff and protected staff and patient time.

Patients commented that the food was either reasonable or poor.

Updated 1 June 2023

This service has now been removed from special measures.

Our rating of this service improved. We rated it as requires improvement because:

• The ward environments needed redecoration and refurbishment. Seclusion suites did not have easy access to bathroom facilities and fresh air. Risk assessments were not always updated following incidents.
• The patient care record system was a mixture of electronic records and paper records. This meant some documents were difficult to locate and paperwork was duplicated.
• An epilepsy care plan was not detailed enough to ensure staff responded appropriately.
• There continued to be medicine management concerns. There were medicines on Upper East ward with no expiry dates. This meant that staff could not be assured that these medicines were safe to administer.
• Patients felt the quality of food was poor.
• There were gaps in governance processes that failed to identify areas of concern.

However:

• The wards had enough nurses and doctors. The service had significantly improved its recruitment and retention rates. They minimised the use of restrictive practices and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding and complaints. The safeguarding and complaints processes had been improved and were now working effectively.
• Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the patients and in line with national guidance about best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
• The ward teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of patients on the wards. Managers ensured that these staff received supervision and appraisal. The ward staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and with those outside the ward who would have a role in providing aftercare.
• Staff understood and discharged their roles and responsibilities under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of patients. They actively involved patients and families and carers in care decisions.
• Staff planned and managed discharge well and liaised with services that would provide aftercare. As a result, discharge was rarely delayed for other than a clinical reason.
• There were now more audits in place and there were processes for considering and feeding back lessons learnt. The service had been successful in implementing a co-production approach to quality improvement.

Updated 1 June 2023

See overall summary