Patients with severe learning difficulties and autism were ‘unsafe’ at a private hospital in Bolton and staff there did not follow infection control precautions.
In a damning report published today The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated The Breightmet Centre for Autism as inadequate overall and placed it in special measures following an inspection in March.
The report states that vulnerable adults being cared for at the hospital were ‘not protected from abuse and poor care’.
The Breightmet Centre for Autism on Milnthorpe Road is an independent hospital ran by ASC Healthcare Ltd.
The hospital has apologised for the distress caused to 'service users and their families' and pledged to improve their service.
It provides support to adults with a learning disability or autistic people and takes admissions from across the country.
The hospital accommodation is divided into four wards across two floors.
Each ward has four or five-bedrooms with en-suite facilities and communal spaces.
There were 17 autistic people staying at the hospital during the inspection.
All the patients had been detained under the Mental Health Act.
The hospital has apologised for the distress caused to 'service users and their families' and pledged to improve the service.
One patient told inspectors that staff laughed at them and talked about things that triggered them.
When asked if they knew how to raise concerns the patient replied, ‘yes but they wouldn’t listen anyway’.
Two families of patients spoken to described how the service did not provide updates when their relatives tested positive with covid and all six families and carers that inspectors questioned said that staff did not respond to emails or phone calls.
Three families raised concerns about communication as many staff spoke English as a second language and said their relatives struggled to understand what staff were saying.
The service was first placed in special measures in June 2019 and was removed from those measures following an inspection in November 2020 where improvements had been made and the service was rated as good overall.
CQC’s latest inspection in March was carried out in response to safety concerns raised about the care and treatment of people using the service.
Following this inspection, the service was rated as inadequate and placed in special measures.
The service was also rated inadequate for being safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
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Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s director for people with learning disabilities and autistic people, said: “When inspectors returned to The Breightmet Centre for Autism, they were disappointed to see a significant decline in the quality of care being provided to people with a learning disability and autistic people.
“We found that the support and treatment given did not meet people’s needs and aspirations. “Care did not focus on people’s quality of life or follow best practice and audits undertaken did not reflect the quality of care given.
“It was concerning that many staff were not suitably skilled or trained to work with people with a learning disability or autistic people. This led to people receiving limited support with making choices and having control over their own lives. People weren’t supported to input into their care plans and weren’t empowered to take part in activities which were part of their planned care and support.
“Feedback from families and carers about the quality of the service was poor. “They told us they’d all had issues with communication and that the service didn’t provide updates or respond to emails or phone calls.
“They also described staff as being defensive when issues were raised and said they were made to feel unwelcome on the wards. “The service has been placed in special measures and is being supported to make the required improvements by the wider system, including the local clinical commissioning group.
“Inspectors will continue to monitor service closely to ensure people are safe. “If we are not assured people are receiving safe care, we will not hesitate to take further action.”
Findings from the latest inspection included that the service did not have enough skilled staff to meet people’s needs and keep them safe and many staff did not follow infection control precautions, such as regular hand washing. Patients were not supported to be independent and have control over their own lives and reviews were not completed and did not take part in activities which were part of their planned care.
Training and induction programmes at the centre were basic, and the service had not identified all training courses needed to meet the needs of autistic people and staff.
A spokesman for ASC Healthcare, said: "We are passionate about delivering high quality care to our service users and theirsafety and wellbeing is our number one priority. We therefore take all feedback from the Care Quality Commission very seriously. "We are disappointed by the CQC’s findings and are working to ensure improvements are made.
"A full and detailed response to the inspection report can be found on our website following the publication of the inspection report.
"We are sorry for any distress caused to both our service users and their families.
"We are working closely with our host commissioner, NHSE and Bolton Safeguarding and have implemented robust and comprehensive action plans to improve our standards which we have shared with our Host Commissioner, NHSE and Bolton Safeguarding.
"In addition, we have ongoing meetings with our Host Commissioner, NHSE and Bolton safeguarding who are supporting ASC towards the improvements we have made.
“We continue to collaborate closely with relevant local partners to sustain improvements and are confident the Breightmet Centre will have made sufficient progress by the next inspection.”
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