Updated 13 November 2019
Priory Lakeside View is an independent hospital which provides inpatient care to adults of working age who have acute mental health needs.
The hospital takes NHS patient referrals only. The hospital received referrals from the National Health Service from across England. The service had a contract of block booked beds with two NHS trusts.
The hospital had three acute mental health wards, each of which we visited as part of this inspection:
Swan Ward– female ward with eight beds
Robin Ward – male ward with eight beds
Finch Ward - male ward with 12 beds.
The hospital provided the following regulated activities:
- Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
- Diagnostic and screening procedures
- Treatment of disease, disorder or injury.
At the time of our inspection there was a registered manager in place, who was the hospital director.
Priory Lakeside was last inspected September 2018, as part of the scheduled inspection programme. The hospital was rated as requires improvement overall, with requires improvement in safe, effective, responsive, caring and well led domains. Following that inspection, we told the provider it must:
- Ensure that governance systems are operating effectively across the hospital site, feeding into regional board level and ward level. They must ensure that they continue to monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services provided in the carrying out of regulated activity.
- Ensure they have sufficient and adequately skilled staff to meet the requirements of the service they offer.
- Ensure they have appropriate staffing levels on all wards to ensure there is enough staff to carry out treatment and care. Acorn ward staffing levels must be reviewed to ensure staff and patients are fully supported, patients receive their medicines on time and staff can access emergency drugs.
- Ensure that emergency equipment has appropriate safety checks and that emergency medicines are available to staff.
- Ensure that the hospital is clean and infection control procedures are in place.
- Ensure that all medical equipment is well maintained and calibrated in line with manufacturer’s instructions.
- Ensure that blanket restrictions are not in place without due cause and that patients receive individual risk assessments to maximise their independence.
- Ensure that a patient care and treatment is designed to make sure it meets all their needs, this includes a clear care and treatment, which includes agreed goals and access to therapeutic recovery-based interventions.
- Actively seek the view of people using their service and those lawfully acting upon their behalf, about how care and treatment meets their needs. The provider must be able to show that they take action in response to feedback.
- Ensure they investigate any complaint received and take necessary and proportionate action in response to any failure identified by the complaint or investigation.
Since the comprehensive inspection in September 2018, the hospital has had five interim hospital directors in place until April 2019, when a substantive hospital director was appointed. During this period the hospital changed its service specification and now only provides acute mental health inpatient services. The three wards have been renamed and Acorn ward (previously a four bedded step-down ward) has been closed.