Children’s hospital forced to close after abuse claims may reopen due to legal loophole

A scandal-hit children’s mental health hospital set to close after an investigation by The Independent uncovered allegations of severe abuse could reopen within months due to a legal loophole, it can be revealed.

Taplow Manor hospital, in Maidenhead, will shut in May after this newspaper exposed claims of “systemic abuse” and poor care from more than 50 former patients. Police are currently carrying out two investigations into the hospital – one into a patient death and a second into the alleged rape of a child involving staff.

The investigations by The Independent also found:

Active Care Group, which runs the hospital, announced last week that would close but in letters sent to staff since then, it said it was looking to retrain them with plans to “reopen as an adult acute service” in a matter of months.

“We will be replacing some of our wards with adult acute services and therefore not closing the hospital. This will mean further training for colleagues as we transition to this new service,” it wrote.

A loophole in the regulations means that there is nothing to stop healthcare providers from applying to the watchdog, the Care Quality Commission, to reopen, even if serious concerns have been raised about the closed operation.

Lara Johnson, the GMB union’s workplace representative for Taplow Manor, told The Independent: “I have serious concerns as to how anyone could consider allowing them to commission adult mental health services at Taplow Manor when they have not ensured our members have been provided with the resources and support they needed up to now.”

She said staff had routinely raised concerns over the over-reliance on untrained and inexperienced agency staff, which put pressure on its members who are already performing challenging roles.

Ms Johnson added: “I hope that Active Care Group will reflect on the reasons why they are responsible for the decommissioning of the CAMHS [children’s mental health] service to Taplow Manor and rather than seek to replace one group of patients with another they face up to their corporate responsibility ... If they do reflect in that way then they will reach the same conclusion as every member I have spoken to this week. They should close Taplow Manor and never again fail to live up to their glossy brochures.”

The Independent’s revelations prompted an inspection of the hospital by the CQC, which then rated it inadequate and warned it would close it down unless it made improvements. Active Care Group later decided to close the hospital after the NHS decided to stop sending patients to the unit.

Active Care Group took over from the Huntercombe Group in December 2021 and manages other hospitals where concerns have been raised about care. They include a children’s unit at Ivetsey Bank in Staffordshire, where this paper also revealed that police were investigating an alleged sexual assault on a patient.

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Deborah Cohen, chief executive of the charity Inquest, which represents families at coroners inquests following a death, said reopening Taplow Manor was a “serious concern”.

“Given the concerns about the use of private providers and the oversight by the NHS and CQC, it must be a matter of serious concern that this hospital, where systemic abuse has been found, that they are allowed to simply, reopen for anybody over 18,” she said.

Under the current rules, care providers that close a service can reopen as an alternative service but must apply for a new registration.

During this process, the provider goes through the same checks as a newly opened service before registration can be approved. But any previous performance ratings, such as the inadequate rating Taplow Manor received, would not be applied to the new service.

The CQC’s guidance says it takes into account a service’s regulatory history and inspection findings and hospitals’ registration histories are available on its website.

A spokesperson for Active Care Group said: “We are currently scoping options for Taplow Manor Hospital. We will be discussing any plans, when we have them, with our colleagues at the hospital.

“Any new services being considered in the future would follow all proper processes and of course, full training plans would be implemented ahead of any change to services offered.”

A CQC spokesperson said the watchdog has robust systems in place to ensure only applications that show an appropriate model and quality of care are approved.

“This specifically includes examining a provider’s fitness and competence to deliver the regulated activities and their ability to meet the fundamental standards. It also involves checking the provider’s recruitment processes and whether appropriate levels of suitably trained, competent and experienced staff are in place, and looking closely at the regulatory history of the service and the applicant.”

It said applications would be refused if the provider fails to meet expectations and regulation requirements.