Appalling conditions still plague England's mental health hospitals

Embargoed until 00:01hrs Thursday 15 December

Today mental health charity Mind responded to the results of the first independent inspections of hospital cleanliness in England, undertaken by the Healthcare Commission.

Sophie Corlett, Director of Policy at Mind, said:

“Despite evidence that the state of the physical environment influences recovery or deterioration of health, we now see that mental health hospitals are still in a shocking condition. There must be a change of culture within mental health services to raise standards of hospital cleanliness. Only then will service users’ basic dignity be ensured.  
 
"In 2002, the Department of Health stated that the physical appearance of mental health wards "acts as a tangible statement of value to service users, carers and staff." (1) Three years on and the Health Commission has found that mental health service users are still not getting equal treatment within the NHS.  Standards of cleanliness in mental health wards have been found to be "markedly poorer" than across other services and all six of the worst scoring organisations are NHS mental health hospitals. Mind’s 2004 Ward Watch campaign (2) highlighted the appalling conditions on many mental health wards."
 
***ENDS***

Notes to editors:
(1) Department of Health: Mental Health Policy Implementation Guide, Adult Acute Care 2002
(2) For further details of the Ward Watch campaign or to download the report, please see www.mind.org.uk