- Independent mental health service
Barnet Lane Clinic
Report from 28 October 2024 assessment
Contents
Ratings - Long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults
Our view of the service
Barnet Lane Clinic registered with the CQC in March 2023 and is part of the Elysium Healthcare group. Barnet Lane Clinic is a mental health hospital with a high dependency rehabilitative approach to care and treatment for people aged 18 years and over. The service specialises in the treatment of people with personality disorder in addition to working with people with schizophrenia and other mental health disorders. The service provides treatment for both informal patients and those liable to be detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (2007). Barnet Lane Clinic offers accommodation for men and women, provided in separate areas within the Hospital. Adjacent to the main building are four step-down flats and patients can also access a therapy kitchen following individual risk assessment and care planning. There is significant refurbishment work underway since September 2023 with the aim to improve the environmental facilities of the existing building and expand the adult service to an all female service with an acute and rehabilitation pathway. We carried out an overall on-site assessment of the service between the 14th and 19th of February 2024 and 10th April 2024. We carried out this assessment as we had received information giving us concerns about the safety and quality of the service. As this service has not previously been assessed we looked at 33 quality statements relevant to rehabilitation mental health wards. During our assessment we found breaches of the legal regulation in relation to regulation 12, Safe Care and Treatment and regulation 17, Good Governance. There were issues relating to medicine storage and recording, access to vocational and educational opportunities, feedback from some patients who had to wait for female staff to be available to access their needs and continued improvements in relation to carer and patient feedback.
People's experience of this service
We spoke with 8 patients and 9 carers of people who use the service. Most patients said they felt safe at the service, although one patient said they did not feel safe as they felt the service could be chaotic. Some patients said there were not enough activities during the evenings or at weekends or these were cancelled. Some patients told us there was no access to a recovery college, educational or vocational opportunities. Four out of the 8 patients said they were engaged in co-producing their care plans and had a copy of these. Two patients who were being cared for by staff on enhanced observations , told us there were delays in meeting their needs as they had to wait for female staff to support them with using the toilet. Some patients and carers told us, prior to and during the assessment that there had been occasions when staff were sleeping whilst on observations with patients, talking in their own language and that their accessibility needs were not being fully met. Most carers said they believed their relatives felt safe at the service, that staff knew the needs of their relative well and spoke positively about staff behaviour and approach. Some carers felt that there were no recovery or discharge plans for their relative. Carers commented on how clean the service was but said access to activities and visitor facilities could be improved. Carers generally said they were involved in their relative’s care and invited to meetings but some carers raised issues surrounding communication. When they called, staff told carers they would call them back, but they did not or there were faults with the staff office and patient phone. We sought feedback from commissioners who had placed patients at the service. They believed the patient’s care needs were met and risks managed well. Feedback from the advocate at the service was generally positive about the care and treatment provided to patients.