CQC finds ‘serious failings’ at mental health hospital

A mental health hospital in Surrey has been warned to make immediate improvements after ‘serious failings’ were discovered.

Last week, it was revealed the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent regulator of health and social care in England, warned Alpha Hospitals Limited it needs to make changes at its Alpha Hospital in Woking.

During unannounced visits in November and December, inspectors found the provider was failing to meet five of six national standards of quality and safety.

On three of them – care and welfare of people, safeguarding people from abuse, and records – formal warnings were issued.

The management of medicines and the assessment and monitoring of the quality of service provision standards were not met, however Alpha Hospital Woking met the standard of respecting and involving people who use its services.

The December inspection took place to follow-up on concerns identified in a number of areas at a previous inspection.

Adrian Hughes, regional director for CQC in the South, said: “It is worrying that, having already told Alpha Hospitals Limited that they needed to make a number of improvements during the last two visits to the location by the CQC, we have returned to find there are still serious problems being identified.

“Our intention was to secure improvement by raising our concerns with the provider. However, as this did not result in the necessary action, we have issued warning notices as urgent action is now needed to tackle the serious failings at this hospital.

“We will continue to monitor the hospital to satisfy ourselves that improvements have been made. If we find the changes have not been made, we will take further action to protect people living there.”

A spokesman for Alpha Hospital Woking said the welfare of patients is uppermost and it is committed to providing the highest standard of patient care.

“We very much value the CQC feedback relating to one of our wards and we have worked closely with its team to develop an action plan that has been implemented,” the spokesman added.

Julia Dutchman-Bailey, director of quality and nursing for NHS England (Surrey and Sussex), said considerable improvements have been made in the past year.

“NHS England (Surrey and Sussex) has worked closely with Alpha Woking, as the commissioner of the service, for the last year to ensure the Adolescent Psychiatric Inten-sive Care Unit provides safe and effective care, treatment and support to young people,” she said. “The CQC has highlighted concerns following visits last year, but we recognise that Alpha has worked hard to address these concerns and indicated that the outstanding issues have now been resolved.

“We are committed to working with Alpha to ensure that all the necessary standards are maintained.”