New inpatients banned at mental health unit rated unsafe

A privately run mental health unit has been banned from admitting new patients after inspectors found numerous safety failings, one of which led to a resident dying by hanging.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has stopped the Cygnet Acer Clinic, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, from accepting new inpatients. It declared that the facility was “not safe” for people to use.

Inspectors found that clinic patients had opportunities to hang themselves, and the unit had soaring levels of patient self harm, and a huge shortage of trained staff.

The CQC’s report is one of the most damning it has issued about poor and unsafe care affecting vulnerable and potentially suicidal patients in a mental health facility.

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Source: The Guardian, 13 November 2019