Northampton mental health hospital removed from special measures but still rated ‘requires improvement’ by care watchdog

A mental health hospital in Northampton has been removed from special measures but is still rated ‘requires improvement’ by the care watchdog.

St Andrew’s Hospital in Billing Road was inspected on July 4, 5 and 6, 2023 by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which re-visited the facility after implementing conditions in 2021 due to “immediate concerns for the safety of patients” on certain wards. The inspection last year was focused on the wards where conditions were in place.

The 2023 visit saw inspectors rate the hospital in ‘safe’ and ‘well-led’ categories - both of which were graded as ‘requires improvement’.

The report was published in January 2024 and confirmed the hospital retains its overall rating of ‘requires improvement’. However, bosses say due to the “delay of report publication”, most of the points raised have “already been implemented”.

Inspectors said in the report: “We found that sufficient progress had been made and that the conditions could be removed.

“This service has been removed from special measures due to the improvements we found.”

Inspectors said staffing, training compliance, incident reporting and record keeping had improved. They also said ward environments were “generally safe, clean and appropriately risk assessed”, staff followed good practice in safeguarding, there was a “wide range of readily accessible activities” and the culture had improved.

However, the service was rated ‘requires improvement’ as not all medical devices and equipment were maintained in line with supplier’s guidance, medicines management processes were not always adhered to, not all healthcare assistants thought their safeguarding training was sufficient and easy read information was not available for patients on one ward.

CQC also raised a number of other issues, which they said the facility needed to address. The hospital says many of these improvements have now been implemented.

A spokeswoman for St Andrew’s said: “We are pleased the CQC has recognised our continuous progress and commitment to improvement, despite the challenges currently facing the healthcare sector.

“While we accept there's still work to be done, we are proud of the improvements we have made, particularly in addressing staffing challenges.

“We are also pleased that the patients the CQC interviewed were positive about our care, stating they felt safe and staff are helpful and caring.

“The CQC inspectors reported positively on the improved culture on our wards, and found that our environments are generally safe, clean and appropriately risk assessed.

“Additionally they report that our staff are complying with their required training, following good safeguarding practice and keeping accurate and appropriate records.

“Given the delay of the report publication we have already implemented most of the points raised.

“We are committed to continuous improvement, and as a charity we are focussed on helping people to transform their lives.

“We would like to thank our partners in the East Midlands who have helped us on our improvement journey, and we look forward to the CQC re-inspecting our service in the future.”

Read the full report on the CQC website here.