A Bromley mental health clinic was blasted after inspectors found staff weren’t keeping up with basic training.

Kent House Hospital has been told it needs to improve after a critical review by care watchdog the Care Quality Commission.

The independent hospital provides care and treatment to young women and adolescents with severe mental illness and complex behaviour.

But inspectors were left dissatisfied by the service and also made several critical comments over hygiene and staffing issues.

The hospital’s safety and training standards were condemned by the CQC, which is the independent regulator of health and care services in the UK.

The report said: “Staff did not keep up to date with basic training to keep people safe from avoidable harm … Managers did not ensure staff received specialist training for their role. Nursing staff had not received training in working in child and adolescent mental health services.”

It adds: “Staff and young people said staffing was the biggest problem and a considerable number of vacancies remained unfilled. The ward manager often stepped in to cover shifts when they were short staffed. This took the manager away from carrying out their role and responsibilities to run the ward safely.

“Young people reported there being no consistency with staff – particularly the night staff changing so often … A staff member expressed concerns around staffing and commented that ‘there are not enough nurses and there is a lot of pressure on nurses and deputies'”.

The report eventually concludes: “The service did not deploy enough suitably skilled, qualified, competent and experienced staff.”

The Orpington-based clinic’s physical examination room also was not clean, according to the report.

Inspectors wrote: “Staff did not always ensure the premises were clean. The physical examination room was unclean. For example, equipment was covered in dust, staff had not used clean stickers to show that it was clean, and the dustbin was overflowing.

“Staff did not keep cleaning records to ensure that this room was cleaned regularly. We raised this with the provider immediately who said they would clean it straight away.”

Another issue inspectors spotted was the seclusion rooms, which they say “did not fully comply with the Mental Health Act Code of Practice”.

They add that in one of the rooms, the mirror in the bathroom was directly opposite to the observational panel, meaning that staff could see if a young person was sat on the toilet.

This took away a young person’s “privacy and dignity”, the report said.

Despite the overall rating of “requires improvement”, the hospital was rated “good” for how caring it was.

Examples cited included the improvement of the outside spaces, with the courtyard having a gym, basketball court and gardening area with plants and flowers.

The report also says that “staff made sure young people had access to high quality education throughout their time on the ward. The on-site school was registered with Ofsted and rated as “outstanding” at their last inspection in June 2021. Staff encouraged young people to attend school, and this was part of their recovery journey.”

A spokesperson for the hospital said: “We are working hard to make the improvements identified by the CQC, and we hope to regain the site’s ‘good’ rating as soon as possible. Since the inspection took place we have improved our staff training compliance, and we have begun an additional teaching programme specifically focused on looking after children and young people with autism.

“We’ve hired a new Occupational Therapist who is delivering a wider range of interventions for the young people we look after. We have also begun an upgrade of the physical environment, and this project is due to be completed in the spring.

“To address the recruitment challenges identified by inspectors we are reviewing the salaries and benefits we offer our staff. We have also brought in additional leadership support to improve our governance processes.”

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