Cygnet Hospital Beckton upgraded to ‘Good’ rating by the Care Quality Commission

Cygnet Hospital Beckton has been upgraded to ‘Good’ by the regulator, the Care Quality Commission, with inspectors praising staff for their ‘safe, person-centred care’.

The hospital on Tunnan Leys, Beckton, run by Cygnet Health Care, offers four different specialist wards for women with complex mental health needs including learning disability and personality disorder. In the new CQC report, inspectors focused on the learning disability ward and psychiatric intensive care ward concluding that ‘the service had taken steps to improve quality.’

Following unannounced inspection visits in January 2021, the CQC upgraded its rating from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’ across all key lines of enquiry. The latest CQC report was published today highlighting a number of areas of positive practice.

Responding to the new report, Judith Etheridge, the Hospital Manager at Cygnet Beckton said: “I’m very proud of what we have achieved here as a team. I want to take this opportunity to thank all the team for their dedication, commitment and for their hard work and the support they have given to each other during the last year.”

In the report, published on the CQC website, the inspectors said: “Staff assessed and managed risk well, managed medicines safely, followed good practice with respect to safeguarding and minimised the use of restrictive practices. Staff had the skills required to develop and implement good positive behaviour support plans to enable them to work with patients who displayed behaviour that staff

found challenging.”

The inspectors also noted: “The service met the needs of all patients – including those with a protected characteristic. Staff helped patients with communication, advocacy and cultural and spiritual support.”

The new CQC report highlighted that the learning disability ward demonstrated several examples of ‘safe and person-centred care’. It said: “Staff were aware of patients’ needs and could easily access information providing instructions on how to engage positively with each patient. The ward employed a specialist speech and language therapist to improve communication with patients.”