Hospital where notorious killers are detained is so under-staffed that patients are not safe, watchdog warns

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One of Britain’s three high-security hospitals – where notorious people including Ian Huntley and Charles Bronson have been detained – is so understaffed that neither workers nor patients are safe, a damning new report has found.

Rampton Hospital in Nottingham faces severe staff shortages, leading workers to restrain patients and lock them away in their rooms and putting patients at risk of self harm, according to the Care Quality Commission.

In a report looking into the hospital, inspectors – who rated the hospital as inadequate – said there were around half the staff needed on one ward.

In one example of those at the hospital being at risk, a patient self-harmed with glass from their watch, while another was able to harm themselves with a CD while they were confined to their room.

One deaf patient was secluded several times on another ward for “being loud”, according to the CQC.

“We spoke with people in the learning disabilities services who told us they sometimes get locked in their room from dinner time until the next morning,” the report said. “They told us that they don’t like being locked in their rooms.”

Rampton Hospital, which has 400 patients, is one of the UK’s three high-secure mental health hospitals and holds the most mentally unwell patients in the country. Patients who are considered to suffer from a mental health disorder and have dangerous, violent or criminal tendancies are commonly admitted.

The two other high-secure hospitals are Broadmoor Hospital in London and Ashworth Hospital in Liverpool. Broadmoor Hospital was rated good in 2022, and Ashworth rated good in 2017.

The CQC’s inspection of Rampton Hospital, run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, comes after concerns were raised in September 2022 over staffing levels which the regulator said it had still not addressed last year.

Some staff said they were unable to take breaks, use the toilet or drink and eat during shifts as a result of the shortages.

“Staff regularly confined patients to their bedrooms during the day to maintain safety on the wards. This was not carried out in line with trust policy, which only permitted confinement at night-time,” the report said.

“Staff used restrictive practices such as early confinement and late unlocking routinely and this had become usual routine practice authorised by managers to manage risk. Managers had not taken timely steps to prevent this becoming a normal culture within the hospital.”

Ifti Majid, chief executive of Nottinghamshire Healthcare said: “The safety and wellbeing of our patients is always our priority and we welcome inspections as they are an important tool to understand how we are doing, and to highlight areas for improvement and the opportunity to make things better.

“The CQC inspection took place back in June and July 2023, and our colleagues at Rampton Hospital have worked incredibly hard to improve the services for our patients over the past seven months.

“I want to recognise their contribution to the improvements made and would like to thank them for their continued dedication, in often difficult circumstances.”