The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found improvements in the psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) and acute wards for adults of working age at Cygnet Hospital Wyke in Bradford, which sees the service’s overall rating move from requires improvement to good and the hospital improve from inadequate to good following an inspection in November.
Cygnet Hospital Wyke is an independent mental health hospital provided by Cygnet Health Care Limited. The hospital is registered to provide care and treatment to up to 46 people.
This inspection was carried out to follow up on improvements CQC told leaders to make at their previous inspection in January last year.
Many of the concerns found at that inspection related to the long-stay and rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults. However, since that inspection, Cygnet has made the decision not to provide this service, although it is still registered with CQC. Therefore, the latest inspection in November relates to services that are now being delivered at the hospital, specifically the acute wards for adults of working age and PICU.
At this latest inspection, CQC found the service had made improvements and was no longer in breach of regulations.
Acute wards for adults of working age and PICU have now improved from requires improvement to good overall, and for being safe and well-led. Effective, caring and responsive have again been rated as good.
Improvements across these wards means the hospital’s overall rating has improved from inadequate to good overall and for being safe and well-led. Effective, caring and responsive have improved from requires improvement to good. This also means the hospital has been removed from special measures.
Linda Hirst, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:
Over the last few years, Cygnet Hospital Wyke has had a history of providing care which is below the standard that people have a right to expect, despite several interventions by CQC. However, at this latest inspection in November, we found improvements had been made, and we were pleased to now find a leadership team who were delivering person-centred care to people that meets their individual needs.
Staff assessed and managed risks to people and themselves well. They knew how to report incidents and make any necessary safeguarding referrals, as well as working with external partners to keep people safe. Also, following incidents, staff met to discuss lessons learned, and they were offered support to help with their own wellbeing.
It was positive to find staff tried to avoid restraining people, by using de-escalation techniques, and only restrained people when these were unsuccessful, or it was necessary to keep the person and others safe. If people were restrained, staff explained to them why it happened and carried out checks afterwards to make sure they were okay.
Overall, it was good to hear that staff were being kind, compassionate and caring towards people. They also considered people’s individual needs, by arranging activities on the wards following people’s feedback on what they liked to do, such as working in the hospital shop or attending mindfulness and relaxation groups to help with their mental health and wellbeing.
Everyone at Cygnet Hospital Wyke should be proud of the improvements they’ve made. We’ve shared our findings with them so that they can continue to build on the improvements we saw, and we’ll continue to monitor the service to make sure these changes are sustained long term.
Inspectors also found:
- Staff understood how to protect people from abuse and the service worked well with other agencies to do so.
- People and their family or carers were involved in their care and treatment when they were given consent to do so.
- Medicines management arrangements were safe and effective.
- There were enough experienced staff to safely meet people’s needs.
The report will be published on the CQC website in the next few days.