Cygnet Health Care to open new child and adolescent mental health hospital in Coventry
Fiona Simpson
Monday, August 24, 2020
A new mental health hospital for children and teenagers is set to open in Coventry.
The Joyce Parker Hospital, named after a former care worker, will be launched by Cygnet Health Care offering support to young people aged 12 to 18 years old in psychiatric intensive care and low secure facilities.
Mermaid Ward, which will open in October, will provide a 10-bed child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) psychiatric intensive care service with a two-bed emergency “place of safety” facility for young people experiencing severe mental illness.
Summit school, an on-site Ofsted registered school will allow young people to continue with their education.
A second ward, Dragon Ward, is set to open in early 2021 and provide a low secure service for young people requiring a longer stay and treatment for those with complex mental health issues with a need for full-time support.
Dragon Ward will also have the capacity and staff to treat young people with co-morbid disordered eating as part of their illness. Specialist eating disorder clinicians will work alongside healthcare teams to support effective treatment and recovery of the young people.
The hospital will also offer five individual flats for young people ready to trial independent living and accommodation for families and carers.
Cygnet Health Care currently runs three facilities offering CAMHS in Bury, Kent and Sheffield.
Paul Bentham, Cygnet’s CAMHS operations director, who will lead the new service, said: “The approach we’ve taken is genuinely innovative and we’ve involved people with personal experience of mental health problems, as well as carers and young people from Cygnet’s other CAMHS services in its development. The names of the wards and the school setting came from these young people. It is our aim is to create a high-quality service that will be emulated for the way it is helping young people on the road to recovery.
“We are very proud to be doing this in the West Midlands.”
However, in January, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) highlighted concerns linked to the provider’s leadership and governance arrangements.
Among issues raised, the review found that a clear line of accountability could not be established across all of Cygnet Health Care’s locations.
The structure and processes in place did not support the executive board to effectively identify emerging issues and the provider used different information systems to notify and manage risks across the organisation, so the executive team did not have oversight of significant risks identified by regional teams, the CQC report states.
Care and treatment did not always include best practice, it adds, stating: “There was a high use of physical restraint and seclusion across services compared to similar services in other mental health providers. The number of patient assaults by other patients and self-harm recorded were also higher in Cygnet Health Care compared with NHS providers of similar services.”
