Mental health hospital found to be unsafe

An independent mental health hospital in Manchester has been rated ‘inadequate’ overall and placed into special measures.

Maryfield Court, operated by ASC Healthcare Ltd, was given an overall rating of ‘requires improvement’ in February but Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors revisited the site unannounced in July following concerns about one of the provider’s other services, The Breightmet Centre for Autism.

During the July inspection, some areas, including bedrooms, were found unsafe or not maintained to a good standard. Although the bedrooms concerned were not in use at the time of the inspection, 12 people had been receiving care in the weeks leading to the inspection.

Some bedrooms showed signs of damp, furniture was damaged, fixings were in a poor condition and one room’s door lock was faulty.

Inspectors also found the bathroom floors in the bedrooms were dirty and the walls were also marked and stained. Cleaning schedules had not been fully completed since March and cleaning records lacked detail.

People’s care records and risk assessments were not always reviewed or updated when an incident occurred, or measures considered on how to lessen any further risk. There had been ten incidents of people leaving the service without authorisation since May.

Inspectors rated Maryfield Court ‘inadequate’ for being safe and well-led, ‘requires improvement’ for being effective and caring, and ‘good’ for being responsive.

‘We returned to inspect this service because we had ongoing concerns about the provider’s ability to keep people safe, following our earlier findings at the hospital and the inspection of another of its services,’ said Jenny Wilkes, head of mental health inspection at the CQC. ‘The lack of attention to detail was concerning, some issues went unnoticed or unreported, which risked people being exposed to avoidable harm.’

A spokesperson for ASC Healthcare said: ‘We have put a voluntary embargo on admitting new service users to Maryfield Court since July, and currently have no service users in residence, so that we can concentrate on addressing the issues raised by the Care Quality Commission. We are sorry for any distress caused to previous service users and their families.

‘We have recently recruited a new, experienced management team who are implementing a comprehensive action plan to improve our standards, including refurbishing the hospital and introducing more robust governance processes.

‘This is an ongoing process, throughout which we are collaborating closely with the relevant authorities. We hope to be in a position in the future where we can open our doors again and provide the high quality care rightly expected of us.’