A MENTAL health hospital with "not enough staff on the wards" has been slammed in a watchdog report.

The Priory Hospital Southampton has been told it "requires improvement" following a recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which regulates the industry.

But the hospital said it had already implemented a comprehensive action plan to address concerns, adding: "Patient safety remains our overriding priority."

The hospital provides specialist inspection services for adults with acute mental health needs, and adults with eating disorders.

The CQC report found the site did "not always have enough staff on the wards" and some did not have restraint training.

Two out of five categories - safe and well-led - were given a 'requires improvement' rating.

Caring was rated as 'outstanding' and effective and responsive were both rated 'good'.

Despite this, the hospital at Marchwood Park, Marchwood, was given an overall 'requires improvement' rating.

Inspectors said the provider, Priory Healthcare Limited, "was not always able to fill vacant shifts with bank and agency staff".

They said this put patients and staff "at risk".

The hospital has three wards with a total of 40 beds.

CQC staff spoke to seven patients during the inspection, which took place over three days in July and August.

Their report states that some staff had not completed their required mandatory training, which included in-house restraint training.

On one ward, inspectors found that staff did not always attempt to carry out physical health observations after a patient "received medicines by rapid tranquilisation".

It was also noted that there had been two incidents in which staff had not "readily responded" to an emergency alarm.

"Staff did not always feel they were listened to by senior leaders and raised some concerns about the culture," the report said.

Inspectors said that the wards inspected were "clean, well equipped, well-furnished and well maintained".

Patients were treated with "compassion and kindness" and felt "well-respected".

The hospital was last inspected in September 2019, when it was rated "good overall".

A hospital spokesperson said: "We take the CQC report seriously and the hospital’s leadership team has responded quickly and positively to the issues raised in it.

"Working with ward managers and all hospital staff, we have put in place a comprehensive action plan to address concerns and embed improvements and learnings.

"Patient safety remains our overriding priority.

"The last two years have meant we, like other healthcare providers, especially in mental healthcare, experienced staffing challenges, but we have been working extremely hard to address these, and as the CQC noted, successfully reduced vacancies as a result.

"We have enhanced our risk assessments, training, monitoring and staff supervision programmes.

"We are pleased that the CQC noted that patients are treated with compassion and kindness, and feel respected, and that staff are fully committed to delivering good quality care.”

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