Mental health hospital ‘still failing to meet five national standards in care’

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that Huntercombe Hospital in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, was not meeting the required standards in care and welfare, safeguarding, managing medicines, safety and suitability of premises, and assessing and monitoring the quality of services.

The visit in September was a follow-up from an earlier inspection this year and found insufficient progress being made.

The CQC is now considering further action, and said: “Visiting inspectors identified concerns in relation to all five national standards that they reviewed and have told the provider where improvements must be made.

“We are considering the need for further regulatory action and will report in due course on any action we do decide to take.”

One patient told the inspectors the hospital was “like a prison”, and inspectors also found “repetitive” menus, and that several areas of the hospital “were not being maintained in a clean and hygienic condition”.

One patient that was being given a dose of anti-psychotic medication at 200 per cent of the British National Formulary limit during the earlier inspection was still receiving the same dose during the return visit.

Of 51 reported incidents classed as either no harm, minor injury or near miss, the forms showed no investigation findings or lessons learned recorded in 41 of them.

When asked about learning from recent incidents, a member of staff told inspectors: “I have received so many emails recently I can’t remember.”

The hospital said in a statement: “The wellbeing of patients is our primary concern. We also treat the findings of CQC reviews of our services with great seriousness.

“We have made representations to the CQC about the accuracy of some of their inspector’s findings in the recent Review of Compliance Report for The Huntercombe Hospital East Yorkshire.

“There is a comprehensive action plan in place at this hospital which is being implemented and the CQC has recognised that improvements have been made.

“We are continuing to engage with the CQC and NHS England area teams in relation to these matters.”