The CEO of a mental health care firm has hit back at a critical watchdog report into its Stockport hospital - where three young women died within weeks last year. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) deemed child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) services at Cheadle Royal Hospital, also known as the Priory Hospital Cheadle Royal, to be 'inadequate' following a recent inspection.
"People shouldn't have to live in an environment with these poor conditions and the provider must address these issues as a matter of priority," the watchdog said.
Priory chief Rebekah Cresswell has now issued a lengthy statement, insisting the rating does not 'accurately reflect the quality of... child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) services at Cheadle'. She criticised a press release issued by the regulator - and said the CAMHS rating gives the 'wrong impression'.
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"[We] have disputed the factual accuracy of many aspects of the report," she added. Ms Cresswell claimed services has been 'misrepresented'.
The inspection followed the deaths of three young women - Beth Matthews, 26, Lauren Bridges, 20, and Deseree Fitzpatrick, 30 - within weeks last year. It is not known if the CQC visit was triggered by those incidents. The women's deaths are not thought to be linked.
Cheadle Royal, run by Priory-owned Affinity Healthcare Limited, is a 150-bed hospital with 13 wards which provides care to people with 'diverse nursing needs'. That includes adults with acute and psychiatric intensive care needs; personality disorders; eating disorders; and adults requiring long-stay rehabilitation.
The CQC inspection was carried out on three CAMHS wards - Woodlands, Orchard and Meadows.
Findings revealed that for CAMHS services, care was not always 'safe'; ward environments were not always well maintained; wards had high vacancy rates and were reliant on agency and bank staff; risk assessments following incidents were not always updated; high levels of restraint and seclusion were recorded; and families and young people were not always involved in investigations.
Training issues were noted; the CQC said agency staff did not always treat people with 'dignity and respect', according to patients; patients didn't always feel supported; 'the ward environments did not ensure that the care environment was dignified'; and access to outside space was difficult.
Inspectors also said discharge planning was 'generic'; and that the service was not well led. There were positives, however. Inspectors said most staff were compassionate and kind and respected patients' privacy and dignity - and understood their needs.
A range of treatments are provided which are suitable to people's needs and 'in line with national guidance about best practice', inspectors added. Staff worked well together, the CQC said.
The facility's overall rating was 'requires improvement'. Specific ratings, by category, were:
- Safe - requires improvement
- Effective - good
- Caring - good
- Responsive - good
- Well-led - requires improvement
Ratings for 'specific services', were:
- Specialist eating disorders service - good
- CAMHS - inadequate
Long stay or rehabilitation mental health wards for working age adults - good
Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units - good
Serious concerns were raised by coroners following the death of Ms Matthews and Ms Fitzpatrick. Coronial proceedings in relation to Ms Bridges' passing are ongoing.
Ms Matthews, originally from Cornwall, was a blogger with a 'massive' online following. An inquest concluded that neglect by staff at the hospital contributed to her death by suicide. She died on March 21, 2022 after ingesting a poisonous substance she ordered online. She collapsed in front of staff members at the hospital, where she was a patient after being detained under the Mental Health Act. Ms Matthews had told them it was protein powder.
Deseree Fitzpatrick died after being found unresponsive in her room. She had been admitted days before due to her self-harm risk and for alcohol detoxification. The five-day inquest before coroner Andrew Bridgeman found she choked in her sleep after being given inappropriate medication, which had caused 'significant sedation'. The coroner said there was insufficient consideration of 'polypharmacy' and that the medication regime was inappropriate.
A month later, Ms Bridges died. Her mum Lindsey paid tribute to her 'beautiful and brave' daughter. Detailing 'significant concerns' about her care, she claimed her daughter was 'failed by a system that should have helped and supported her'. An inquest is due to continue later this year.
'We are concerned this kind of rating gives the wrong impression'
Priory CEO Ms Cresswell's statement, in full, reads said: "We are disappointed with the CQC's overall (CAMHs) rating which does not accurately reflect the quality of our child and adolescent mental health services at Cheadle, and have disputed the factual accuracy of many aspects of the report. Our responsibilities are first and foremost to our patients and their families, and while we take the report very seriously and remain committed to addressing any issues raised, the misrepresentation of our service is unhelpful both to them, and to our dedicated and hard-working staff.
"The headlines of the CQC's press release fail to identify many positive aspects found by inspectors, including that 'all wards were safe, clean, well-equipped, well-furnished and fit for purpose', patient incidents were managed well, our staff were 'discreet, respectful, and responsive when caring for children and young people', and that patients felt our staff were 'supportive, kind, respectful and caring'.
"They state we had enough nursing and support staff to keep patients safe. They stated our care was 'personalised, holistic and recovery-orientated' and 'staff from different disciplines worked together... to make sure children and young people had no gaps in their care'.
"To meet increasing national demand, we have invested £360,000 this year in refurbishing Orchard ward as a high dependency care ward for young people with additional support for disordered eating. This was already planned for 2023. And since January 2022, almost £2m has been invested overall in services at Cheadle Royal Hospital.
"We remain totally focused on reducing agency use, which is down by two-thirds since the inspection, and recruited 99 new permanent colleagues at Cheadle this year alone, which includes nine new nurses and 46 healthcare assistants, with a further 13 new nurses and 37 healthcare assistants in the pipeline.
"We are concerned that this kind of rating, when care has been highlighted as good, gives the wrong impression and could exacerbate the very problem the regulator appears to want to address, namely staffing. This inspection happened five months ago, and we were working on increasing our permanent staffing levels long before this, which is why we have already seen an increase in them."
The CQC declined to comment further.
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