A mental health hospital in Harrow has turned things around and been upgraded to ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following a reinspection.
Cygnet Hospital Harrow, which had previously been rated ‘Inadequate’ in 2024, has seen significant improvements in the latest inspection carried out in December. The 51-bed hospital on London Road, Harrow on the Hill, is now rated ‘Good’ across all key areas including being safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
The inspection follows a challenging period last year, when CQC raised concerns around leadership, training and care for autistic patients. At the time, Rob Assall, CQC’s director of operations in London, said: “When we inspected Cygnet Hospital Harrow, we saw a service that wasn’t being well-led… if services aren’t well-led, it makes it difficult for them to provide a good quality service, which is what we found here.”
Since then, the hospital has made wide-ranging changes, including appointing a new hospital manager, improving training for staff, and upgrading the ward environments to better meet patients’ needs.
The latest report praised the hospital for showing “good, caring interactions between staff and patients” and described how staff “treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of patients.”
Inspectors also recognised the hospital’s efforts to involve former patients through its “Experts by Experience” programme and acknowledged that morale among staff had improved. The hospital director was described as “approachable, supportive and engaged.”
In response to the new rating, a spokesperson for Cygnet Hospital Harrow said:
“We have worked exceptionally hard at Cygnet Hospital Harrow to address previous challenges and improve the standard of care being delivered to our service users. We have been on a journey of improvement and it is pleasing to see this being recognised by the regulator.
“We will use this positive development as a foundation to continue implementing further positive changes to ensure service users get the care they deserve.”
CQC said it will continue to monitor the service as it builds on the improvements made.
Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
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