A watchdog has slammed a hospital near York for having areas ‘not fit for purpose’ and not enough staff following a recent inspection.

Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited Stockton Hall hospital, in Stockton on the Forest, on an announced inspection from May 31 to June 2 and gave the overall rating of 'requires improvement'.

A spokesperson for Stockton Hall said the hospital was committed to providing the best patient care and had addressed the issues raised by the watchdog.

Stockton Hall is a 112-bed medium secure hospital within the Priory Group. It provides treatment for people over 18 with mental health problems, personality disorders, autistic spectrum disorders and learning disabilities.

The service was last inspected by the watchdog in January 2020 and was rated 'requires improvement' overall.

Following the most recent inspection, inspectors rated the service as requires improvement for being safe, effective and well-led.

They gave the service the rating of good for being caring and responsive to people’s needs.

Areas ‘not fit for purpose’

In their report, inspectors criticised the hospital for having ward areas that were “not well maintained, well-furnished or fit for purpose”.

They said the condition of the wards was “not conducive to a therapeutic environment” for patients.

Inspectors also found that some seclusion rooms were not fit for purpose.

They said five out of nine seclusion rooms they had seen had no en-suite facilities, so patients had to wait for staff members to take them to an adjacent toilet room.

Staffing issues

The watchdog criticised the hospital for a lack of staff which resulted in patients’ activities and Section 17 leave (a short period of leave from the hospital) being cancelled at short notice.

At the time of the inspection, vacancy rates stood at 72 whole time equivalent healthcare assistants and 23 whole time equivalent nurses.

The average staff turnover in the last 12 months was 30 per cent.

“The hospital director told us during and post Covid the service lost a number of nursing staff, including registered nurses and healthcare assistants which had been difficult to replace,” said the inspectors.

Inspectors noted that staff within the service knew the patients and received basic training to keep people safe from avoidable harm.

Concern raised over medicine management 

The CQC found that the service’s medicines management was not effective.

“Insulin had not been labelled to show which patient it related to and, two glucose tests had expired in July 2022,” said inspectors. 

The inspectors added that on one ward medicine dispensed in the clinic room had been left there unattended.

They also said staff did not always have easy access to clinical information.

“We found issues in 15 out of 19 care records we looked at."

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Further concern was raised by the CQC over governance structures which inspectors said were not “consistently effective”.

A spokesperson for Stockton Hall said: “We are committed to providing the best patient care and welcome the CQC finding the hospital ‘good’ for being responsive and caring, with patients saying staff ‘treated them well, were helpful, provided them with support and behaved kindly’.

“We have addressed all other issues raised with us, including a programme to upgrade all seclusion facilities to ensuite. Within other wards, two had been upgraded before inspection and the third was undergoing redecoration at the time.

“We have been working over the past year with the local Diocese around recruiting a chaplain, and this will continue.

“We have addressed issues around medication, and all patients’ care plans are in order.

“Staff shortages are a nationwide issue across healthcare, but we have tackled this head-on via meaningful salary increases and other measures, and are fully focused on recruitment to roles which make a genuine difference to people’s lives.”

The report can be read in full on the CQC’s website.