Priory Group hospitals placed in special measures over ‘unacceptable’ standards
Two Priory Group hospitals have been placed in special measures after they were found to have “unacceptable” standards.
Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors reported fears over dirty wards and “uncaring and disrespectful” staff at the facilities, which care for people experiencing poor mental health.
The move means Priory Hospital Blandford in Dorset and Kneesworth House in Royston, Hertfordshire, have up to six months to improve the level of care provided or be closed.
Inspectors found that patients at the Royston facility were wearing trainers in bed to avoid being poked awake with keys by nursing staff, adding that some were “antagonised” by those caring for them.
They also reported finding ripped furnishings in dirty wards at the facility, which cares for men and women diagnosed with mental illness and personality disorder.
CQC deputy chief inspector Dr Paul Lelliott (pictured) said: “If urgent improvements are not made to ensure people are safe, we will take action to prevent the provider from operating these services.
“All of this is unacceptable and not what anyone should expect when receiving mental health care.”
The Blandford hospital, which cares for young people aged between 12 and 18 who are diagnosed with mental illness, learning disabilities or autism, was issued with the warning due to concerns about the safety of patients.
Young people had attempted to use loose bricks and nails found in a garden of the facility as weapons, the report found, and there had been a number of incidents where patients had been assaulted or were bullying each other.
The Priory Group is Britain’s leading provider of private mental health care.
Another of its hospitals, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was forced to close earlier this year over safety concerns, and the group was fined £300,000 in April following the death of a teenage girl at a unit in East Sussex.
A spokesman for Priory said Blandford had “suffered” from failing to attract “suitably-qualified nurses and clinicians with the expertise to meet the needs of this complex patient group”.
“This reflects a national picture, with staffing problems particularly acute where sites are rural, and service users require high levels of specialist input and round-the-clock care,” the spokesman said.
“At Kneesworth, a major investment plan is under way to ensure the environment is improved.
“While we accept the forensic service fell below expected standards, the CQC rated the hospital’s acute mental health and rehabilitation services, which make up the greatest proportion of patients, as ‘good’, and said that, overall, the hospital was ‘good’ for being effective and responsive.
“Our immediate priority is to address the issues raised by the regulator to ensure good practice is replicated throughout.”
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