Improvements must be made at St Andrew’s Healthcare, according to the Care Quality Commission.

Following an inspection at St Andrew’s Northampton head office on 23 and 24 October last year, CQC found areas where improvements must be made.

CQC has told St Andrew’s Healthcare it must make several improvements, including ensuring effective governance systems and processes are embedded across all its services, supporting sustainable and high-quality care.

In addition, the CQC required a review of arrangements for independent challenge of decisions made by its executive team and the need for timely action and completion of all regulatory breaches and concerns identified by Mental Health Act reviews.

It also asked staff to raise protection concerns in accordance with The Protected Disclosures Act 2014, if necessary.

As this was a focused inspection, services’ ratings have not changed. The inspection was undertaken because failings were previously identified at seven St Andrew’s locations.

St Andrew’s has almost 860 inpatient beds across its services, which include hospital wards for people with mental health issues, learning disabilities and autism in the Midlands and Essex.

Kevin Cleary, deputy chief inspector for mental health and community services at CQC, said: “Though inspectors witnessed some areas where St Andrew’s Healthcare was using processes that supported good care, there were also repeated and systemic failings relating to procedures and clinical governance. These failings hindered the provider’s ability to provide safe and effective care and treatment. St Andrew’s board knows what it must do to ensure all necessary improvements are made. We continue to monitor the provider and will carry out further inspections to check on any progress.”