Mental health hospital for young people gets 'good' rating from inspectors

A hospital for young people with mental health problems has been given an overall ‘good’ rating by inspectors. The Care Quality Commission visited Fir Trees Independent Hospital in the Lower Ince area of Wigan in November and gave it the second-highest available grading overall and in all other sub-categories of assessment.

Fir Trees is a not-for-profit facility and has long-stay rehabilitation mental health wards for working-age adults. The CQC said the hospital was safe and clean and staff assessed and managed risk well and stored medication safely. “They minimised the use of restrictive practices, and developed holistic, recovery-orientated care plans informed by comprehensive assessment,” the report said. “They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of patients cared for in a mental health rehabilitation hospital and this was done in line with national guidance and best practice.” Try MEN Premium now for FREE...

just click here to give it a go. It said that Fir Trees care teams had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of patients on the wards including occupational therapy and psychology. “Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity and understood the individual needs of patients,” the report went on. “Carers confirmed they were actively involved in care decisions.

Patients were positive about the care they received from staff and felt actively involved in care decisions. All patients interviewed felt safe and carers were also highly satisfied with the service.” However, the report pointed out that despite most records being electronic, staff had continued to create large paper records which were not always as up-to-date as