Mental health hospital out of special measures

A South Yorkshire mental health hospital has been moved out of special measures following an inspection, a watchdog said.

Cheswold Park Hospital in Doncaster was run by Riverside Healthcare Limited when it was put into special measures in late 2023, but has been taken over by the NHS since the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in May and June.

The CQC found patients felt safe and the service had improved, but "the overall rating remains inadequate" as not enough areas were looked at to change the rating.

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which took over the running of the hospital in October, said it would help it "move forward in its improvement journey".

The hospital is a 112-bed low and medium-secure mental health hospital which offers services to adults with a diagnosis of mental illness, personality disorder or neurodevelopmental disorders.

The latest inspection was to look at previous concerns raised around the care and treatment being provided to people, with further issues about its patient leave policy.

The CQC report said patients had areas to go if they needed some quiet time, but people’s leave from the hospital grounds was sometimes cancelled due to understaffing.

It said families and carers were kept informed, knew who to speak to if they had concerns and were invited to relevant meetings about their loved ones.

The CQC said the hospital's rating for being "safe and responsive" had gone up from "inadequate" to "requires improvement", with the "caring, effective and well-led" category remaining "inadequate".

In a statement, the NHS trust said: "The CQC inspection relates to a time when Cheswold Park Hospital was run by Riverside Healthcare.

"We will ensure that learning opportunities presented by the CQC inspection are followed through and that we help the hospital move forward in its improvement journey."

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