Hazelwood House rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, putting it in top 6% in England

• Staff ‘treat patients with compassion and kindness’
• Staff ‘empowered’ patients
• Service used innovative ways to improve patients’ experience for example ‘staff in the role of patient for a day’
• Staff ‘worked hard to ensure the needs of all patients were met’
• There was a ‘high level of staff satisfaction, with staff feeling respected, supported and valued’

A hospital for men with learning disabilities, autism and mental health problems, Hazelwood House, in Heath, Chesterfield, has been rated ‘outstanding’.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) gave the service top marks. The CQC inspects and regulates health and social care in England.

In their inspection report, the CQC said: “All staff showed warmth towards the patients when communicating with them. They spoke about patients in a respectful manner and we observed staff giving patients emotional support.” Inspectors went on to say, “We spoke to five patients and they all said the staff were very kind and caring and they felt able to speak to them. One patient said they can tell staff were happy to take them out for activities and do things with them. All patients said staff treated them well and behaved appropriately towards them.”

The inspectors went on to say, “Staff and patients said there were a lot of outings and day trips organised. This includes visits to theme parks, the local garden centre, walks, shopping, the cinema. In the summer, nine patients went to the beach for the day.”

The CQC also pointed out, “Staff worked hard to ensure the needs of all patients who use the service were met. People’s individual needs and preferences were central to the planning and delivery of therapeutic activities. Staff had developed an equality and diversity group to support patients in understanding people’s differences.”

The CQC praised the management of the hospital and said they “had a good understanding of the service they managed. The hospital director and clinical director worked well together and all the staff and patients we spoke with were very complimentary about the leadership of the hospital”.The inspectors continued by saying, “Leaders had the skills, knowledge and experience to perform their roles, were visible in the service and approachable for patients and staff”.

The hospital was rated ‘outstanding’ overall and in the “are the services caring?”, “responsive” and “well-led” categories. It was rated ‘good’ in the “are the services safe” and “effective” categories. The hospital was praised for using innovative ideas to support patients and the CQC report pointed out that the hospital director and clinical director had been selected as one of five finalists for the award in the Care Team category of the Great British Care Awards.

Hazelwood House is a low secure hospital for males with a learning disability, including those with autism and mental health problems. The hospital is owned by The Priory Group, which specialises in mental healthcare and runs mental health hospitals across the UK.

Christine Walker, Hospital Director, said: “I am really proud of everyone who works with me at Hazelwood House. My team work hard to do the best they can for our patients and it is great that their contributions are reflected in this report. It is a pleasure to be leader of a specialist service that is rated ‘outstanding’.”

Paul Pritchard, Managing Director for the North region at Priory Healthcare, said: “I want to take this chance to thank Christine and her team for everything they have done for Hazelwood House. This means that Hazelwood House is in the top 6% of independent mental health hospitals in England and the top 7% of all mental health hospitals. This is remarkable and demonstrates how effective their approach is in helping the patients they support.”

ENDS

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About Priory and MEDIAN

Priory is the UK’s leading independent provider of mental health services. We treat more than 70 conditions, including depression, anxiety, addictions and eating disorders, as well as children’s mental health, across our nationwide network of sites. We also support autistic adults and adults with a learning disability, Prader-Willi Syndrome and brain injuries, as well as older people, within our specialist residential care and supported living facilities – helping as many people as possible to live their lives.

Priory is part of the MEDIAN Group, one of Europe’s leading providers of high quality mental health and rehabilitation services. The MEDIAN Group comprises 290 facilities with 5,000 beds caring for 28,000 people in the UK, 120 facilities with 20,000 beds caring for around 250,000 patients in Germany, and 15 facilities with 2,000 beds caring for 13,000 people in Spain, with more than 29,000 employees overall.