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Cygnet Health Care

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Cygnet Health Care is a commercial provider of mental health services which operates over 150 centres with more than 1,000 beds across the UK. The company headquarters is in Sevenoaks, Kent. It is a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, acquired for £205 million in 2014.[1] It has 15 rehabilitation sites nationwide, comprising 25 wards and 338 beds.[2]

Some of the company's clients pay privately, but most are funded by the NHS buying extra capacity. In 2013/4 Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust spent £1.2 million with the company.[3]

Performance

In 2011 the company was warned by the Care Quality Commission about staffing levels at Cygnet Wing Blackheath.[4] Improvements were still required at the CQC inspection in April 2014.[5]

In 2013 the Care Quality Commission issued a warning in respect of Cygnet Hospital Bierley because the service was failing to ensure that appropriate records were kept.[6]

In December 2016 it bought the adult services business of Cambian Group PLC in a deal worth £377 million.[7] The deal was referred for investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority in May 2017,[8] which ordered the merged company to sell one of its hospitals in the East Midlands, to counter the loss of competition. [9]

In 2017 the Care Quality Commission raised concerns about the safety and quality of the firm's hospitals in Sheffield and Woking.[10] It ordered admissions to be suspended at Knole Ward at the Cygnet Hospital at Godden Green, near Sevenoaks, which operates a tier 4 child and adolescent mental health service because of concerns about the use of seclusion and segregation.[11] The company announced in November 2017 that it would no longer provide children and adolescents’ mental health services in its regional psychiatric intensive care unit at Cygnet Hospital Woking.[12] In December 2017, Cygnet Health Care was accused of failing vulnerable young patients[13] Three warning notices and fixed penalty notices for failing to make “required notifications” of patient safety incidents were issued by the Care Quality Commission after an “urgent” inspection in November 2017. The Cygnet Hospital Godden Green was restricted to eight admissions. It was said that staff were “often reliant on police intervention” to manage incidents in the hospital, and were not always competent and skilled.[14] It was rated good after an inspection in February 2018.[15] Plans to open 12 CAMHS eating disorder beds at Godden Green in 2019 were paused after three incidents at the hospital. The Care Quality Commission issued two warning notices around safe care and treatment, and good governance.[16] In July 2019 the Care Quality Commission imposed two requirement notices – relating to safe medicines management and having a permanent registered manager - in place on the Godden Green hospital but lifted the restriction on the number of admissions.[17]

Cygnet Healthcare was the subject of a BBC investigation that found that staff had been taunting, provoking and scaring vulnerable people. [18]

A patient was found with “unexplained injuries”, patients had chances to kill themselves and staff were asleep on duty, men with autism, learning disabilities and complex needs were restrained by staff through “inappropriate techniques” all at Cygnet Newbus Grange hospital, in Darlington. That was the sixth time in 2019 that the Care Quality Commission found a mental heath unit that Cygnet runs inadequate. Sean McNulty, who worked at Newbus Grange, was imprisoned for abuse and ill-treatment of residents. Judge Peter Armstrong described McNulty as a, “sadistic bully", McNulty was found in CCTV footage punching, kicking or slapping one patient 15 times.[19] This was one of four inpatient units which were previously operated by the Danshell Group and acquired by the company in 2018. All four were condemned by the Care Quality Commission.[20]

Cygnet Acer Clinic in Chesterfield was placed in special measures in September 2019 and admissions to Cygnet Acer Clinic were suspended. At that point Newbus Grange hospital in Darlington, Cygnet Hospital Ealing, Cygnet Hospital Wyke in Bradford, Cygnet Hospital Coventry and Cygnet Hospital Colchester were also in special measures.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ "UHS bolts Alpha Hospitals onto Cygnet". Health Investor. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Watchdog flags concerns about private health firms' merger". Health Service Journal. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Mental health bed shortage". Lancashire Evening Post. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  4. ^ "CQC warns Cygnet Health Care Limited that it is failing to protect the safety and welfare of people". Care Quality Commission. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Cygnet Wing Blackheath". Care Quality Commission. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  6. ^ "CQC warns Cygnet Health Care Limited that they must make improvements". Care Quality Commission. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  7. ^ "CAMBIAN AGREES £377M DISPOSAL". Insider media. 5 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Cambian Adult Services Unit Sale To Face In-Depth UK Competition Probe". London South East. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Competition regulator orders hospital sale". Health Service Journal. 16 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  10. ^ "Second private hospital stops taking new patients after CQC concerns". Health Service Journal. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Third Cygnet hospital criticised by CQC". Health Service Journal. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  12. ^ "Private provider shuts children's unit after regulators intervene". Health Service Journal. 2 November 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  13. ^ Smith, Patrick (December 16, 2017). "A Chain Of Private Psychiatric Hospitals Has Been Accused Of Failing Vulnerable Young Patients". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Private provider suspected of criminal offence by CQC". Health Service Journal. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  15. ^ "Cygnet mental health hospital makes 'significant improvements'". Health Service Journal. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  16. ^ "Specialist beds delayed after child welfare concerns". Health Service Journal. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  17. ^ "Private mental health hospital told to improve safety". Health Service Journal. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  18. ^ "Secret filming reveals abuse of disabled and autistic patients. Earlier this month Sean McNulty, a member of staff at Newbus Grange, was jailed for abusing and ill-treating residents. Sentencing him to two years and eight months in prison Judge Peter Armstrong said he was a "sadistic bully". CCTV footage had shown McNulty punching, kicking or slapping one patient 15 times". 23 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  19. ^ Inspectors discover poor standards at 28 mental health units The Guardian
  20. ^ "Mental Health Matters: An inpatient care crisis". Health Service Journal. 7 October 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  21. ^ "Sixth Cygnet-run facility placed in 'special measures' by CQC". Nursing Times. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
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