Safety, Security & Safeguarding

We parents have numerous examples of serious lapses in safety. Yes, yes, we could take them to the CQC. We have. In these Covid times, CQC simply pass the complaint to the hospital and tell them to do something. There seems to be no follow up, no action.

Some of these children are suicidal and are on 1:1 observation with at least one staff member meant to be watching them at all times. There have been numerous occasions when staff members have been fast asleep when meant to be watching these high risk patients! One parent reports at least 3 such recent incidents of staff being asleep. That’s just ONE parent’s report.

Most of the night staff are agency staff. They’re there for the day and not too fussed about doing the job properly. Most don’t know HOW to do the job.

Numerous parents have reported to us about staff being asleep on duty. To Rhodes Wood’s credit they do take action when given the name of the staff member and do not hire that agency staff member again. However, that does not solve the problem as there’s always another “sleeper” who could be on duty tomorrow.

One patient reports that a night time agency staff member actually asked her, “Do you mind if I shut my eyes for a few minutes?”!

Fobs

Staff members have fobs that are needed to open all the secure doors, including the gate in the video here. These fobs are meant to be on their person at all times, but they often take them off and leave them about.

This is a irresistible temptation for many patients who attempt to grab these fobs and do a runner. They don’t get very far, as staff do catch them and restrain them. But that’s unnecessary trauma for patients who are already in a very bad place.

Gates

The main gate to the secure area is what the below video is about. This gate is meant to be always shut. The parent who took this video (also on Youtube) claims that he was waiting at the gate for 15-20 minutes before shutting the gate to secure the premises. He says it’s not the first or second time he’s seen this lax security.

Fortunately, no patient noticed the open gate and attempted to make a run for it.

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