Cygnet Joyce Parker Hospital

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Staff did not always treat young people and children with kindness, compassion and dignity in their day-to-day care and support.  Staff physically abused children and young people during 3 incidents of restraint. Children and young people, carers and staff told us that staff sometimes spoke in another language when they were with the children and young people. Children and young people told us that some staff did not respond to their needs quickly and efficiently, especially if they were in pain, discomfort, or distress. 

This service scored 45 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

One young person on Pixie ward told us, “staff will watch people hurt themselves, they don’t even try and talk to the person. I was watched by staff when I was hurting myself, this made me feel that staff didn’t care”. We spoke with 5 parents, they told us that staff (mostly agency) speak their own language among themselves and this caused distress to their loved one. However, 1 child and young person on Pixie ward and 1 on Mermaid ward gave positive feedback about how staff treated them. The advocate told us they observed staff being kind and compassionate and had never observed a lack of compassion or neglect.

Staff did not always treat children and young people with kindness, compassion and dignity. We reviewed an audit of the culture of the service completed by the provider on the 1 and 2 May 2024. The audit highlighted concerns that staff on Faun ward regularly speak in their mother tongue during shifts in front of the patient, making them feel uncomfortable. The hospital director told us they issued formal letters to staff in relation to speaking in a different language when supporting children and young people.

Partners shared concerns that children and young people expressed in relation to staff attitude and poor staff interactions.

Staff did not always treat people with kindness, compassion and dignity. We reviewed closed circuit television footage for 3 incidents of restraint where children and young people were physically abused by staff. Staff were observed dragging children and young people during these incidents. We reviewed 9 debriefs completed during May and June 2024 on Mermaid ward. In one of the debriefs staff used negative language when describing children and young people, such as young people being “demanding”, “challenging” and “sneaky”. However, during our site visit we observed positive interactions between children and young people and staff on Pixie and Mermaid wards.

We did not look at Treating people as individuals during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Independence, choice and control during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Responding to people’s immediate needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.

We did not look at Workforce wellbeing and enablement during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Caring.