CQC logoHarcourt House, a private 10-bed mental health hospital in Catford, southeast London, has been closed after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found it was inadequate in every area it was inspected on.

A catalogue of regulation breaches were found, including patients not being restrained in a safe manner, and one patient had been locked in their room for several weeks. This was a breach of the patient’s human rights and amounted to mistreatment.

The six-strong CQC inspection team – comprising 3 CQC inspectors, a CQC inspection manager, a pharmacist inspector and a specialist advisor – visited Harcourt House in Canadian Avenue, Catford, over a 3-day period in February.

The specialist advisor was a consultant psychologist with experience in providing psychological treatments. The inspectors found Harcourt House, run by CarePlus Partnership, was overall inadequate in every area it inspected.

Other regulation breaches uncovered included:

• The hospital did not report all serious incidents, and external organisations did not have a full understanding of what was happening to people being cared for in the hospital 

• Risk assessments were not updated after incidents and staff could potentially not be aware of risks and how to support the patients safely

• The hospital was not kept clean or properly maintained

• Patients did not have access to appropriate psychological therapies

• Most staff had not received the specialist training needed to care for the people in the hospital

• There had been a systemic failure to assess, monitor and improve the safety, care and treatment of patients.

Paul Lelliott, CQC’s deputy chief inspector, mental health said: “We decided to take action to cancel the registration of this service. However, the provider decided to close the service themselves and cancel their registration. This means the provider will no longer be able to operate the service at this location.”