Prestwich ‘forensic’ mental health wards reopen to admissions
After working tirelessly over the last two years and commissioning an independent clinical review of the re-engineered service, we are able to report that the Lowry Unit, which provides low secure adult forensic mental health services (AFS), is now in a position where it can be re-opened to admissions. This means that with service user engagement, the first new service user will likely be admitted later this month.
The Lowry Unit in Prestwich has two wards: Delaney (15 beds) and Isherwood (15 beds). Both wards care for male service users with complex needs.
Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, who run the facility, say it is reopening its Adult Forensic Services (AFS) in a phased approach, with low secure services based at the Lowry Unit first, before they focus on reopening their Edenfield Centre to admissions for medium secure services soon.
Carol Harris, Chief Operating Officer at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH), said "significant work" had been done, in collaboration with service users, to improve ward environments, develop a clinical model to improve patient safety, and recruit and retain skilled, kind and compassionate staff.
“We are now in a position to safely and sustainably reopen the wards to be able to admit new service users gradually" she said.
“Significant steps have been taken at the Lowry Unit to improve ward environments to ensure that they are safe and provide our service users with a positive experience
“Our aim is to look after people in the least restrictive environment possible and support people to recover and return back to the community in a safe and supported way,” she added.
Karen Howell, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH), said: “Re-opening the Lowry Unit to admissions is a significant milestone for our service users, their families and their carers. Most importantly, this means that we can bring people closer to their home to receive the services they need.
“We will always be sorry for the failings in the past but under the Trust’s new leadership, there has been a real focus on getting the basics right as part of our improvement programme – which is already leading to improvements in care.
“We have refreshed and improved our clinical training offer to ensure our staff are supported to keep their skills up to date, and have seen a reduction in staff vacancies and turnover.”
“We know we still have a lot to do to improve our services and are absolutely committed to this work. We are very clear about what needs to be done and confident we can build on the positive changes already made to get the basics right every time, for every service user and create the conditions in which our staff can deliver care safely and our service users receive high quality care.”
Plans to reopen to admissions included GMMH responding to the recommendations of an independent review, as well as feedback from recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) visits. The Trust has received scrutiny and support from NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care and NHS England to provide further reassurance that the necessary steps forward have been taken to embed and maintain improvements to provide high quality care for service users.
