Kneesworth House Hospital is set within a generous 48 acres of land and has numerous resources on site including a gym, tennis courts, patient shop, patient-led café, farm, social club and an adult recreational centre.

Our Secure Service includes five medium and low secure wards, supporting service users with a range of mental illnesses, learning disabilities and personality disorder diagnoses. 

We also offer a Rehabilitation and Recovery Service at Kneesworth House, comprising locked and open rehab units. This service provides comprehensive, specialist support and is designed to treat men and women with complex mental health needs. We provide gender specific locked and open rehabilitation services across one site, with a key focus on developing skills for independence, supporting patients to understand their own relapse prevention strategies and reintegration back into community settings.

All services at Kneesworth House encourage service users to be involved in all aspects of their care and treatment and work towards Recovery and improved wellbeing. 

Services for female patients

• Fairview Ward – a 6-bedded locked rehabilitation setting which support patients with their recovery within a low stimulus, homely environment, with the additional security of a locked front door
• Bungalow 65 – a 5-bedded open ward which again, provides support to patients in a less restrictive, open environment and allows for positive risks to be taken before a patient returns to the community

Services for male patients

• Nightingale Ward – a 17-bedded locked rehabilitation service for patients who may be more acutely unwell on admission and require support with intensive medication reviews, in addition to risk reduction management
• Wortham Ward – a 17-bedded locked rehabilitation service for patients who may have severe and enduring mental illnesses and who may require a low stimulus environment. We have a particular focus on supporting patients with daily living skills and preparation for discharge to the community
• The Bungalows and Swift House – these are 4-bedded open wards which provide support in less restrictive environments and allow for positive risks to be taken to support a patient to be formally discharged from hospital. Patients in the bungalows are encouraged to cater for themselves and self-administer medication

A full multidisciplinary team

All wards within the service work using collaborative risk assessment and relational security. Our dedicated multidisciplinary team includes:

• Responsible clinicians
• Psychologists
• Occupational therapists
• Mental health nurses
• Healthcare workers
• Teachers
• GPs
• Physical health nurses

Patient activities at Kneesworth House

We offer a range of activities and facilities at Kneesworth House, for our patients to enjoy and make use of. These include:

• Arts and crafts
• Gym/fitness suite
• Tennis court
• Family visiting suite
• Group therapy rooms
• Occupational therapy kitchen
• Patient-led café
• Employment and vocational opportunities (EVOs) facilities
• Social club
• Library
• Patient work roles
• Farm

We also offer a range of real and voluntary work opportunities to our patients at Kneesworth House, which are available on a three-month basis. These aim to develop pre-employment process skills including CV writing, application support, interviews with formalised feedback, and training relevant to the role such as health and safety or manual handling.

Patients are encouraged to participate in real work and vocational opportunities on-site (both paid and unpaid). Current roles include:

• Hospital newsletter editor
• Peer plus leads
• Staff interviewers
• Working at the farm and in the café
• Roles on the patient council which reports to the hospital’s clinical governance forum

The hospital is also registered with OCA accreditation which enables patients to be able to undertake national academic qualifications on-site such as English and Maths GCSEs and A levels.

Patient engagement at Kneesworth House

At Kneesworth House, we ensure that all patients are actively involved in their care, and are involved in planning their timetable of activities based on personal interests and goals. These will include group sessions and one-to-one interventions.

Patients are encouraged to attend a range of meetings such as weekly community meetings, weekly primary nurse sessions, and monthly independent care reviews with the clinical team. In addition, each ward has a patient representative who sits on the patients’ council. The patients’ council meets monthly with the patient forum. This provides direct access to senior management to address any issues on the wards.

Kneesworth House Recovery College

Kneesworth House Recovery College provides further opportunities for patients to improve their wellbeing through education and skills development workshops. Explore this section for more information on our Recovery College.