St Andrew's Healthcare Enter and View Report

Healthwatch North and West Northamptonshire partnered with the East Midlands Provider Collaborative for Adult Secure Care, known as IMPACT, to carry out multiple Enter and View visits of St Andrew's Healthcare.

St Andrew's purpose is to inspire hope for those living with complex mental health needs, by working in partnership with the NHS, voluntary, academic and research organisations to deliver specialist inpatient and community mental healthcare.

The intention of the project was to visit a variety of mental health inpatient wards within St Andrew’s to gather an in-depth look at the different services, as well as gather the experiences of patients, families, carers and staff. 

Healthwatch staff and volunteers accompanied IMPACT on its regular service reviews, where they visited six wards. These included men's and women’s low and medium secure, as well as speciality services for learning disabilities and autism (LDA) and Deaf services.

Some of the key findings discovered include:

• Staff are passionate and deeply committed to their work
• The provision of services and modifications on the wards for those with disabilities is well delivered
• Activities on and off the ward positively influence patients' treatment and progress however, staff shortages limit the availability of activities
• Some staff felt unsafe working on the wards when staffing levels were not achieved. They also felt that patients do not feel safe when staffing levels are low