Archived: Brierley Court Independent Hospital

Updated 14 November 2016

Brierley Court is an independent hospital in Moston, Manchester. Partnerships in Care is the service provider. They acquired Brierley Court in June 2015.

Brierley Court provides care for men and women over 18 with varying primary diagnosis of mental illness and/or personality disorder. The hospital is a locked rehabilitation service providing care for up to 21 patients.

At the time of our inspection, the hospital had 13 patients, 12 patients who were detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 and one there by choice.

Brierley Court provides the following regulated activities:

• assessment or medical treatment for people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
• diagnostic and screening procedures
• treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

The hospital had an accountable controlled drugs officer. The manager had applied to be the registered manager with the Care Quality Commission.

Updated 14 November 2016

We rated this service as good because:

• We observed excellent interactions between staff and patients. Staff were supportive in a compassionate and discreet manner.

• Patients had an ongoing risk assessment and assessment of their needs. Patient involvement in their care planning was evident in the care records.

• Staff managed medication administration correctly, following the provider’s policy and procedures. Staff undertook audits to monitor the levels of stock and medication administration records.

• Staff completed environmental risk assessments to identify, remove or reduce risks to patients. The environment was clean and well maintained, having recently had a refurbishment, which included new furnishings and decoration.

• Managers and clinicians met regularly to review information about the safety and quality of the service. This included staffing levels, incidents, safeguarding alerts, complaints, mandatory training, staff supervision, bed occupancy and patient feedback. When actions were required, action plans were followed up at the appropriate meetings or committees within the organisation. Information was passed to all levels of staff through team meetings, emails, supervision and reflective practice sessions.

• Staff had completed their mandatory training and received regular supervision with an up to date appraisal to support performance objectives.

• The service implemented the Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act effectively.

• All patients had their own rooms with en suite bathroom facilities. Patients had access to food and drink between meals. Patients were encouraged and supported to complete activities with a recovery focus. This included preparing their own meals, doing their laundry and going shopping.

• Patients’ care included input from a psychologist, occupational therapists and a psychiatrist. Handovers and care planning were nurse led with the weekly ward round being led by the psychiatrist. Patients’ care records reflected professionals worked together to support decisions to meet patient’s needs within the care and treatment delivery.

However:

• Occupational therapists and psychologists maintained their own treatment records; these were kept separately from the electronic patient record. The electronic patient record had limited entries of the treatment and interventions a patient had received for psychological or occupational therapies. Staff could not see other professionals had engaged with the patient, as there was no indication of the intervention type, date and brief summary held within the main record. This meant information was not readily available for staff to have a clear holistic understanding of how patients’ needs were met or the patients’ progression.

Updated 14 November 2016