• Mental Health
  • Independent mental health service

Broomhill

Overall: Requires improvement read more about inspection ratings

Holdenby Road, Spratton, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN6 8LD

Provided and run by:
St. Matthews Limited

Report from 28 October 2024 assessment

Well-led

Requires improvement

Updated 20 August 2024

We identified some areas of concern under the well led key question which will require an action plan under the governance, management and sustainability quality statement. While the provider had put in place actions to address issues CQC identified during the last inspection, many of these actions had taken a long time to be implemented. There had not been sufficient time to evaluate how well actions had been implemented or embedded in practice. Some issues we identified as having took time to address include areas of concern around catering and provision of food; introduction of the audio welcome leaflet; working with risk and care planning workshops, plans to commence the patient run café and the implementation of a recovery model of care. Patient and carer forums were relatively new (introduced in December 2023). Working in collaboration with patients needed further work. We acknowledge that at the time of our assessment, occupancy was below 50% and only 5 wards were open. While staff and patients said there were enough staff to meet patients’ immediate needs, they also acknowledged that this had not been consistent in the past when patient numbers were higher. Staff need to plan further admissions with care to ensure needs can be met. There was still a sense of disconnect between the board and the wards. However, we are aware that governance arrangements had recently been reviewed and strengthened. There had been numerous changes in hospital managers and ward managers since our last inspection. Staff told us they would benefit from a stable management team at ward level. Senior leaders acknowledged in the past they had not valued staff as they should have. Work has been ongoing to improve this. Minutes of meetings we viewed did not appear compassionate towards staff. However, leaders had continued to work and collaborate with the Integrated Care Board and other stakeholders with regards to their quality improvement plan.