Closure of private hospital service ‘necessary’ to protect children’s safety, watchdog finds

The closure of a scandal-hit private hospital service was “necessary” to ensure the safety of young people, the watchdog has said.

Following a series of joint investigations by The Independent and Sky News exposing allegations of “systemic abuse” within children’s mental health hospitals formerly run by The Huntercombe Group, the Care Quality Commission launched a review of the leaders at the current owners, Active Care Group.

In a report published on Friday, the CQC said the children’s hospitals had an “exceptionally high use of restrictive practices” due to high numbers of children being restrained and forced fed within its eating disorder units.

The CQC said the organisation faced “significant challenges” with its two children’s mental health hospitals - Taplow Manor and Ivesty Bank Hospital.

It added: “The provider had recognised that care practice in the services was not always appropriate and at times was too restrictive and used inappropriate levels of physical intervention.

“It was recognised that the provision of these services was not sustainable in the long term and so work was taking place with commissioners to identify alternative services for the young people who had very complex needs.”

Active Care Group closed children’s services at Taplow Manor hospital in Maidenhead, after the NHS paused admissions, following exposes by The Independent and Sky News.

Addressing the closure the CQC said it was “necessary firstly for the safety of the young people and secondly to ensure leadership and other group resources were redirected to other services.”

Dr Slyvia Tang, the chief executive for Active Care Group, resigned from the organisation this week. ACG said her departure is not related to the CQC review.

According to the CQC, the organisation has an annual turnover of £200 million and at the time of the inspection was owned by Montreaux Capital Management.

Among other findings, the report said Active Care Group did promote an “open culture” for staff to raise concerns but that its processes for this were not working as they should be.

An internal staff survey done by Active Care Group found 51 per cent of staff agreed with the statement that “I feel I can speak up and challenge the way things are done” and 23 per cent disagreed, the report found.

Regarding the high levels of restraint, the CQC reflected that the provider had made improvements after it sought a review from another mental health hospital.

In a list of actions for the organisation, the CQC said following the challenges it’s had in children’s services it must review plans and “clearly articulate which groups of services users they are planning to support in the future.”

The watchdog’s comment come after ACG has opened Taplow Manor hospital for adults only after closing the children’s service.

A spokesperson for Active Care Group (ACG) said: “We welcome this report as an endorsement of the significant progress we have made in the last two years. We are particularly pleased that the CQC recognised our promotion of an open culture, which was honest and transparent about areas of improvement. They said we manage our risks well and had effective systems in place to do this.”

“We acknowledge the areas for improvement and take responsibility to develop an action plan to continue the work we have started on these areas to maximise improvements in our services.

“ACG are committed to continue providing high-quality care to patients, residents, and their families, to deliver positive outcomes, progress, and recovery. The safety and wellbeing of the people in our care is a top priority.