A HEALTH watchdog has warned a hospital that it must improve in a damning report which highlights safety concerns.

St Mary's Hospital was visited by Care Quality Commission inspectors on three days in July, with their report published this week.

The Orford site is rated as ‘inadequate’ in the safe inspection area and remains ‘requiring improvement’ overall.

The commission says it carried out the unannounced inspection, focusing on safety and leadership, after receiving ‘concerns that may affect the care and safety of patients’.

Located on Floyd Drive, St Mary’s Hospital provides specialist care for adults with a brain injury, and it has wards for people with learning disabilities and autism.

Following its visit, the CQC issued a warning notice in the safe domain regarding the safeguarding of patients, which it is entitled to do where the quality of care falls below what is legally required.

The report states: “We rated the safe domain as inadequate as staff did not always provide safe care.

“Staff did not always carry out restrictive interventions safely and in line with best practice, policy and guidance. Patients were not always safeguarded from harm.

“The ward environments were mostly safe and clean and had enough doctors, but they did not always have enough nurses and support staff. Staff did not always assess and manage risk well.

“The service was not always well led, and the governance processes did not always ensure that patients were kept safe in the hospital.”

In the report, inspectors stated that St Mary's Hospital must ensure that it protects patients from abuse and improper treatment, and that it has systems and processes that are established and operated effectively to safeguard patients.

The CQC issued a warning notice to the provider informing it that it must improve by the end of next month.

It also stated that the service must ensure that monitoring of patients’ safety is carried out as required and recorded correctly.

In response to the report, a spokesman for Elysium Healthcare, which operates the hospital, said: “The safety and wellbeing of our patients is always our priority, and we welcome the scrutiny that comes from the CQC.

“We fully accept the findings of this latest report, and we have already implemented a significant quality improvement action plan to address the issues identified, as has been confirmed by the CQC.

“This action plan is being directed by our senior leadership team and includes a review of risk assessments, staff support systems and quality assurance processes.

“In addition, we continue to recruit staff, despite the ongoing nationwide pressures.

“Meanwhile, we were pleased to see that the inspection evidenced the positive feedback from people using the service.

“As ever, we work closely with the CQC, and we look forward to evidencing the improvements that we continue to make in the weeks and months ahead.”