- Independent mental health service
The Farndon Unit
Report from 4 February 2025 assessment
Contents
Ratings - Acute wards for adults of working age and psychiatric intensive care units
Our view of the service
The Farndon Unit is registered with the Care Quality Commission as an independent mental health hospital. The hospital, ran by Elysium Healthcare Limited, accommodates up to 47 female patients over the age of 18 years. The Unit offers assessment, care and treatment to meet the needs of individual patients with a diagnosis of mental illness, personality disorder and learning disability. The hospital consists of a single building built around an internal garden area. There are five ward areas: Bolero, Courtland, Darcy, Ruby Frost and Aster. The location consists of three core services. Forensic inpatient services, Rehabilitation and Acute inpatient services, we visited 2 wards on this assessment: Ruby Frost ward and Darcy ward (Acute inpatient services). The service was last rated as good overall (Published January 2023). We carried out our on-site assessment on 25 September and 26 September 2024. This was an unannounced assessment, which means the provider was not told in advance that we would be attending and assessing the service. During this assessment we looked at 2 key questions and 6 quality statements. Due to assessing 6 quality statements at this visit it means the current rating will remain the same from this assessment. Our new ways of assessing services means that we will visit and assess services more regularly, building a picture of how the service is performing over a period of time. At this assessment we found the service were maintaining safety of the patient and the environment, patients felt supported by staff and involved in their care and treatment, staff were supported by managers, and appropriate processes were in place to ensure managers had good oversight of the service.
People's experience of this service
We spoke to 7 patients and reviewed 4 patient care and treatment records. Patients felt supported and safe on the ward, staff treated them with dignity and respect. Staff were visible, approachable and helpful. Staff encouraged patients to be involved in their treatment and care, they were seen as individuals with their preferences and needs considered. Patients had choice and control around their treatment and were supported to be as independent as possible. They were encouraged to involve family and people who knew them well in their care. Staff listened to patients, encouraging them to feedback on their experience of care and treatment within the service. Everyone involved in the care of the patient worked well together. Patients who had communication needs had access to additional resources, this allowed their voice to be heard. The appropriate information regarding the patients care, treatment and external resources available were accessible and displayed on information boards around the ward.