Northampton mental health hospital responds to data revealing 58 allegations of assault made against staff

A mental health hospital in Northampton has responded to data revealing that 86 safeguarding concerns were reported to West Northamptonshire Council in the space of a year.

A Freedom of Information Request was submitted to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) regarding safeguarding at St Andrew’s Healthcare, situated on Billing Road.

The inquiry revealed that 58 safeguarding concerns were reported to WNC involving an allegation of assault perpetrated by a member of St Andrew’s Healthcare staff towards a patient between April 2021 and April 2022.

A further 26 safeguarding concerns were reported in that same period of time involving an allegation of verbal abuse perpetrated by St Andrew’s Healthcare staff towards a patient.

Two additional safeguarding concerns were raised to the council involving allegations of financial abuse perpetrated by staff at St Andrew’s Healthcare towards a patient.

The figures above represent concerns where staff members at St Andrews - including agency staff and contractors - were named as the alleged perpetrators.

A spokeswoman for St Andrew’s Healthcare said: “We are committed to ensuring that all individuals in our care are supported to make choices about their lives and recovery.

“As part of this, we work closely with other professionals to prevent harm, and we have policies and procedures in place that provide clear guidance to our staff.

“Every safeguarding allegation is taken seriously, reported and investigated.”

St Andrew’s Healthcare told this newspaper that any incident involving a member of staff is, where required under the Care Act 2014, referred to WNC for investigation as well as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Northamptonshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The spokeswoman continued: “Depending on the nature of the incident, the outcome might involve staff dismissal or appropriate disciplinary action although, in the majority of cases, no wrongdoing is found to have occurred.

“We continuously monitor incidents and work closely with the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Adults Board to ensure we adhere to all statutory expectations and good practice guidelines,” the spokeswoman for St Andrew’s Healthcare added.

For more information, visit the St Andrew’s Healthcare website at https://www.stah.org/who-we-are/locations/northampton/.