Work to improve mental health areas at QA Hospital are "underway" after CQC inspection finds design "shortfalls" which presented risk of "increased harm to vulnerable patients"
Improvement work is currently underway on the mental health treatment areas of a major Portsmouth hospital’s emergency department after a number of risks were highlighted by an independent health watchdog.
The inspectors’ report raised concerns regarding the dedicated areas to support and treat people with mental health issues in the new emergency department, which opened in November 2024. It cited “shortfalls in the design” which presented a “risk of increased harm to vulnerable patients”.
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust, which runs QA Hospital, have said said work is underway to improve the spaces.
The CQC report stated that specialist mental health staff told inspectors, the mental health treatment areas did not conform to best practice standards and guidelines such as Psychiatric Liaison Accreditation Network (PLAN) standards.
The report confirmed that these standards had been presented to the trust before the department opened to help them create spaces in line with them.
Inspectors highlighted a number of potential risks for those determined to self-harm.
The report said: “Additionally, all MH assessment rooms contained tannoy speakers that could not be muted and could add to patient distress. The additional MH crisis space in use at the time of assessment also had a broken sink and damage to wall areas.”
The issues raised in the report were not new to the staff, who told the inspectors that the ligature risks and concerns with the new new mental health assessment spaces “had been raised and escalated to leaders on multiple occasions since the department had opened”.
As well as staff at PHU, the concerns had also been raised to leaders by staff at specialist mental health NHS trusts. The report stated: “These shortfalls in the design and management of specialised mental health treatment areas presented a risk of ongoing and increased harm to vulnerable patients.”
Following the inspection work was completed to make the area safe and risk assessments were undertaken in the specialised mental health treatment areas and provided to the CQC inspectors. However, the report stated there was no clear timeline for works to be completed and the assessments rooms were still not PLAN compliant and in line with national guidance.
The reported stated: “This meant the trust could not be fully assured these spaces were safe for patient use prior to our inspection and they remained not in line with national best practice standards.”
The trust has now confirmed that work is underway to ensure patient safety and make the areas PLAN compliant.
A spokesperson for PHU said: “We are seeing a rise in the number of people attending with acute mental health needs. This has meant patients need a place of safety until they are transferred to mental health services.
“We are already taking action to make our mental health spaces PLAN compliant including installing new doors to ensure patient safety. These works are already underway."
The CQC rating for the urgent and emergency services at QA was rated as ‘requires improvement’. The overall rating of the hospital is ‘good’. The full report can be found here.
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article you can talk to your GP, phone 111 or text SHOUT to 85258.
Alternatively you can call the Samaritans on 116 123, email [email protected] or visit the website. There is also a list of local services available here.
If you've been affected by suicide, Amparo is a dedicated support service providing practical and emotional support after bereavement. Call 0330 088 9255, email [email protected] or visit amparo.org.uk