Northampton hospital rated 'requires improvement' after latest inspection

St Andrew’s Hospital, which has several mental health units spread across a site off Cliftonville Road, was visited by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in June.

A report published this morning shows that the hospital has failed to get better than the rating handed out in February 2015, which was 'requires improvement'.

Back then, it had 77 actions to carry out to improve care and safety. This time, there are seven actions outstanding that have prevented a 'good' rating.

Warren Irving, St Andrew's chief operating officer, said: "We were disappointed because we just thought we'd push it over into the ‘good’.

"All of this relates to half-a-dozen wards out of 40 or 50.

"But the report was absolutely fair and these issues are easily fixed, and we'll do that as quickly as possible."

Among the seven must-do improvements were too many agency staff - leading to a risk of inconsistent care -a ward in poor condition and potential ligature points that were not yet addressed.

It meant the hospital was rated 'requires improvement' in the categories of both safety and effectiveness - although Mr Irving pointed out that it was rated 'good' for being well led.

The wards with issues spotted by the CQC were in the psychiatric intensive care unit and the forensic inpatient unit, which is populated by people detained under the Mental Health Act or a court order.

Mr Irving said the issues could be officially resolved by December.

He said: “Our staff work incredibly hard, which was recognised in the report, and they will be little disappointed that we didn’t get ‘good’ overall.”