John Munroe Group mental health hospitals rated inadequate again

Two Staffordshire mental health hospitals have been rated inadequate for the second time in six months.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) returned to John Munroe and Edith Shaw hospitals for checks and found the quality and safety of patient care had deteriorated since an earlier visit.

There were "unacceptable" restraint techniques to manage people when they presented risk, the watchdog said.

John Munroe Group, which runs the sites, said safety was its priority.

John Munroe Hospital is a 57-bed site for men and women in Rudyard, and Edith Shaw Hospital has 14 beds for women aged over 55 in Leek.

The CQC inspected the independent sites in August to gauge what progress had been made since checks earlier in the year resulted in a rating of inadequate.

The watchdog said it found patients "were not always treated with compassion" and staff did not speak up when they observed colleagues using "inappropriate or abusive practices".

There were occasions where staff used "unacceptable and disproportionate techniques", such as physically dragging and intimidating people when they presented challenging behaviour, the CQC stated.

Inspectors also found "people's safety was compromised because risks in the physical environment, such as ligature points, had not been adequately assessed".

But infection prevention and control had improved at the hospitals and medication was better managed.

Both services remain in special measures following the second "inadequate" rating.

John Munroe Group said it was "disappointed" it was not able to "accurately evidence in a timely manner the changes and improvements" it had put in place over the last six months.

A new electronic care records and medication management system had only been running for a few weeks and further improvements had "subsequently been undertaken", it added.

Chief operating officer Paul Birks said all the clinical commissioning groups had undertaken "safe and well checks of their service users with positive outcomes".

He added the group was working "tirelessly to ensure that robust systems are in place to effectively safeguard and protect everyone".

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