• Staff praised for being ‘sensitive, discreet and compassionate’
• Hospital ‘felt like home’, patients said
• Patients treated for addictions gave examples of staff who were ‘lovely, approachable’ and providing ‘exceptional care’
• Staff had effective ‘risk management’ plans with patients’ treatment following best practice
• Hospital leaders provided ‘strong leadership’ while senior management team is praised for its ‘extensive’ clinical and managerial experience
• Staff working with children ‘visibly demonstrated the aspiration to provide the best possible care and treatment to patients’

The Priory’s Roehampton Hospital in south-west London has been rated as ‘good’ across all the mental health and addictions services it offers by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The hospital supports and treats patients with mental health problems and addictions. It also treats eating disorders, and children and adolescents experiencing acute mental illness.

In their latest report, inspectors from the health and social care regulator said doctors, nurses and other staff at the hospital worked together effectively to provide good care, with staff providing emotional and practical support for patients.

“Staff took the time to understand patients and their needs, and were sensitive, discreet and compassionate when providing care,” the CQC said.

“Two new senior managers had been recruited to the hospital and in a short space of time had made a demonstrable impact to the safety and quality of care provided to patents. This included developing a strong safety culture of learning from incidents and complaints.”

Inspectors praised the use of CCTV to monitor for all areas of risk. The system is monitored independently by experts, and staff are informed about any additional areas for improvement.

Staff also undertook a comprehensive risk assessment of all patients, the inspectors’ report added. Ligature risks were “effectively minimised by the thoughtful positioning of staff, CCTV, admission criteria, use of observations by staff and individual patient risk assessment”.

On the adult acute wards, staff attitudes and behaviour towards patients “showed that they were positive, calm and respectful, and responsive to the needs of the patients”.

Patients had access to a range of therapies, Monday to Saturday from 9am-5pm, including psychotherapy, family therapy, self-esteem building and art therapy.

In the child and adolescent mental health wards, young people had their own bedrooms. All rooms had magnetic ensuite bathroom doors, anti-ligature radiator covers and non-weight bearing curtains, and the wards had CCTV to monitor potential risks which extended to bedrooms where patients or their families gave consent.

Inspectors said some young people “told us that they thought staff members really cared about their wellbeing. We observed kind, positive and responsive interactions from staff. The staff had a very good understanding of the services and their challenges. Staff were overwhelmingly positive concerning the culture in the services,” inspectors said.

On the eating disorder services, inspectors said both wards had full-time consultant psychiatrists specialising in eating disorders available on the wards. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals supported each other to provide good care. The facilities promoted recovery, comfort, dignity and confidentiality, the report said, while patients’ and carers’ views were important to the service.

Within the addictions service, patients gave examples of staff who were “lovely, approachable” and were described as providing “exceptional care”.  The ward received thank-you cards from patients, and staff felt positive and proud about working for the Priory and their team.

The report singled out as an area of “outstanding practice” the detailed system of audits for patients having detox, which went “above and beyond what is normally expected in substance misuse services”. Senior managers also met weekly with staff to generate ideas and discuss issues and such meetings were “an essential element to the recent change in culture, focusing on patient safety, transparency and learning’”.

Mark Morgan, Managing Director, said: “The report is testimony to the strength and dedication of the team here and I am proud of what has been achieved.

“It is particularly gratifying to see a full page of ‘good’ practice across all areas, with a reference to an area of outstanding practice in our addictions service. This report showcases the excellent services we offer and our dedication to constant improvement. Our focus now is to move to an ‘outstanding’ rating.”