Updated 15 September 2022
York House is an independent specialist assessment and neurorehabilitation hospital provided by The Disabilities Trust. The hospital, located in York, provides care and treatment for people with who have experienced a brain injury after birth, for example, following a stroke, an accident or undiagnosed health condition, such as diabetes.
The hospital consists of 24 beds across two wards.
The Moors – a 14 bed male ward for assessment and long stay rehabilitation
The Wolds – a 10 bed female ward for assessment and long stay rehabilitation
The hospital is registered to carry out the following activities:
- Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
- Treatment of disease, disorder and or injury
- Diagnostic and screening procedures.
The hospital had a registered manager in place at the time of the inspection. A registered manager is a person who has registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2014 and associated regulations about how the service is managed.
At the time of the inspection, there were 21 patients admitted to the hospital. There were 12 patients on The Moors, eight of whom were detained under the Mental Health Act, three were subject to a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard and one patient was admitted informally. Of the nine patients on The Wolds, five were detained under the mental health Act and four were subject to a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard.
We last carried out a comprehensive inspection of York House in February 2017 where we rated the hospital as good overall. We rated the effective, caring, responsive and well led domains as good. However, the safe domain was rated as requires improvement; we issued a warning notice and a requirement notice under Regulation 12 (Safe Care and Treatment) of the Health and Social Care Act (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. We followed up these concerns with a focussed inspection in October 2017 where we found that the service had addressed the issues. However, following the focussed inspection in October 2017, the safe domain was rated as requires improvement due to further concerns. On this inspection, we found that the service had addressed these concerns.
York House Independent Hospital has been subject to three Mental Health Act monitoring visits since our last comprehensive inspection. We took the findings of the Mental Health Act monitoring visits, and actions the hospital said they had completed, into account during this inspection.
What people who use the service say
During our inspection, we spoke with 11 patients and four relatives or carers.
Patients told us they felt safe on the ward. Some told us they enjoyed being at the hospital and were proud of their progression since being admitted. Most patients felt they were involved in their care plans and their medications were fully explained to them. All patients liked the staff. However, one patient was frustrated that staff did not always keep to the times on their planned programme. Views were varied on activities. Some patients said they were fully occupied; others expressed their views that they did not have enough to do and did not go on as many trips as they would like. Patients had mixed opinions about the food on offer with comments relating to limited choice and small portions.
The feedback from all the relatives and carers we spoke with was positive. They recognised improvements in their family members’ behaviours and progress in their rehabilitation. They received regular contact from the staff at the service and were supported in regular communication and visits. Most of the family members we spoke with, told us they were involved in care planning and that the hospital sought their feedback to help with continuous improvement.