Mental health hospital expansion approved despite protesters' fears over care standards

In the report by the CQC, it was noted that staff "did not always manage" dynamics between young people on the wards which consequently made them feel "unsafe".

Staff were also found to "not always" manage the physical health needs of residents, who did not have "regular access" to outside space.

However, it was noted that the hospital near Wheaton Aston had made improvements since its previous inspection in November last year, where it was found to be "inadequate", with staff now having sufficient training and updating risk plans after incidents.

Speaking after the inspection in June, Andy Brand, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said that although improvements had been made at Ivetsey Bank, it will "continue to be monitored".

He said: "When we visited Ivetsey Bank Hospital, we were pleased to see there had been progress since our previous inspection in November, and the requirements of the warning notices had been met.

"However, due to further issues being found, we took further enforcement action so they could focus their attention on making urgent improvements in the areas identified.

"It was concerning people told us they didn’t have enough access to fresh air, as there weren’t enough staff to escort them off the wards and take them to the gardens.

"People also didn’t receive weekly one to one sessions with their named nurse. Both of these are really important to help with people’s health and wellbeing, and the provider must take action to ensure these happen.

"However, the provider had made improvements with staff completing body maps after people had sustained injuries after incidents of restraint. They also completed relevant observations after incidents of head-banging and updated risk plans as needed to keep people safe.

"Also, we found staff respected children and young people’s privacy and dignity and helped support them to understand and manage their care.

"We’ll continue to monitor this service, including through future inspections, to make sure the provider has made further improvements and people are receiving the safe care they deserve. We won’t hesitate to take further action if we find this isn’t happening."

An outline application put forward for the proposed expansion of Ivetsey Bank was discussed at a South Staffordshire Council planning committee meeting last week(October 17), where councillors approved the plans despite a protest held by an action group beforehand.

The application proposed the creation of a new 12-bed child and adolescence mental health (CAMHS) unit at the hospital, which would create a space for families to stay overnight, and a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school that would serve existing residents.

Ivetsey Bank was previously managed by The Huntercombe Group, however it was acquired by Active Care Group – along with 14 other services – when the two group's merged in 2021.

Amanda Jones, who spoke in support of the application at the planning meeting, said: "The educational team have worked really hard over the last four years to attempt to deliver a very good programme to the residents.

"But the buildings on the site are old, even the new unit is challenging, and they’re scattered all over the site.

“They haven’t got science or art facilities and they are struggling. They would like to have a new SEND building so that they can pull all the residents on the site into one school and teach a more dedicated programme.

“At the moment on the site they haven’t got the ability to allow parents to come to the site and stay. A lot of mental health residents are coming from further and further afield, because more and more facilities are not available through the NHS.

“Because they’re coming from a long way away they become disconnected from their parents and family members. We’ve put two apartments into the first floor of the new unit so that parents can come and stay and spend some time with their children."

The approval of the outline application went against the wishes of campaign group "First Do No Harm", whose members could be seen protesting outside the Codsall Community Hub prior to the planning meeting.

Members are those who were, or are currently, admitted to CAMHS services run by Active Care Group – or previously The Huntercombe Group – along with their carers and loved ones.

One of the protestors, Nicola Boughton-Smith said her daughter was voluntarily admitted to Taplow Manor in Maidenhead, also known as The Huntercombe Hospital, in 2019 and raised concerns about her care there.

Nicola, who is from West Berkshire, claimed her daughter's condition "deteriorated massively" whilst she was a patient at the hospital.

She said her daughter had since received a formal diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and claimed it was because of the time she spent there.

Nicola, 52, said: "From a very early stage I felt very uncomfortable with how things were there, it didn't feel very therapeutic. She talked to me about staff bullying her, saying things that were questionable from care staff at a very early point.

"I made a formal complaint. It took a year for the complaint to be processed and I was not satisfied with the outcome. I was outraged to be honest. I just knew that she probably wasn't the only one that was suffering and had been treated that way.

"My daughter got discharged from hospital eventually about three years ago. She ended up spending about two years in hospital and the damage that they caused will just ripple through our lives forever.

"The reason I keep driving this campaign forward is because I am appalled at how I know these young people have been treated. I am heartbroken and scared for them."

Nicola said the plans to expand Ivetsey Bank had left campaigners feeling "distressed".

She added: "Honestly I think it makes a lot of us really angry and really quite distraught and distressed because it feels like, if people were taking seriously the stories we have told collectively, then they wouldn't be allowed to continue to do this. It is really shocking."

Active Care Group said it does not hold records relating to the time prior to the initial acquisition of The Huntercombe Group and declined to comment further on the allegations.