Mental health hospital improves after inspection

The psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) of a hospital in Bradford has had its rating improved from "inadequate" to "good" following an inspection.

Cygnet Hospital Wyke, an independent mental health hospital, was given a "requires improvement" rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at its previous assessment.

It had found the hospital did not provide safe care or manage medicines safely, while risk assessments were not always completed.

But Linda Hirst from the CQC said: "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."

Many of the concerns the CQC found at the earlier inspection related to the long-stay and rehabilitation mental health wards for male working-age adults.

However, it has since dropped these services.

The latest inspection in November last year related to services now being delivered at the hospital, specifically the acute wards for adults of working age and PICU.

The CQC subsequently found the service was no longer in breach of regulations.

Ms Hirst, deputy director of operations in the North, said that staff had made improvements, particularly in the way they handled residents.

She said: "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 OK.

"Overall, it was good to hear that staff were being kind, compassionate and caring towards people."

Hospital manager Gavin Clark said: "This is a huge achievement for the team and reflects the dedication and hard work across all departments.

"Everyone at Cygnet Hospital Wyke genuinely cares about providing the best quality care and treatment we can and I am proud of the progress we've made.

"This positive rating serves as a testament to the ongoing efforts to deliver exceptional care.

"We want to build on this platform and keep improving as a service and ensure that we continue to provide positive outcomes for the people we support."

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