Following a serious incident report last year, the Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into the Northampton-based provider of specialist mental health care. 

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into Northampton-based St Andrew’s Healthcare. The charity is an independent provider of specialist mental health care, working with the NHS in the UK to meet the needs of those with psychiatric illness, developmental disability, acquired brain injury and related disorders.

In August last year, the charity submitted a serious incident report concerning potential mistreatment of patients at its Northampton site, which it had referred to the police for investigation. The charity subsequently updated its report with further developments.

In March, the Commission opened a regulatory compliance case into St Andrew’s Healthcare to assess concerns about the oversight of safeguarding provision by the trustees of the charity, the financial viability of the charity and the wider governance, management and administration of the charity by its trustees.

The regulator has now escalated its engagement with the charity to a statutory inquiry.

The inquiry will examine the extent to which the current trustees are engaging and cooperating with relevant regulators, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and NHS England; the adequacy of governance processes which currently oversee the charity; the future viability of the charity; and the extent of any reputational harm. 

The Commission has said that it may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional  regulatory issues emerge. It has not detailed how long the inquiry is expected to take, but has said that it will publish a report.