Cygnet Hospital Hexham

Updated 9 March 2026

Cygnet Hexham Hospital is registered to carry out the following regulated activities:

• Assessment or medical treatment for persons detained under the Mental Health Act 1983
• Treatment of disease, disorder, or injury

The hospital manager was the registered manager and also acted as the controlled drugs accountable officer. The controlled drugs accountable officer is responsible for overseeing all aspects of controlled drugs management within the organisation. This includes ensuring safe storage, prescribing and administration, monitoring usage, investigating discrepancies and reporting concerns in line with legal and organisational requirements.

Following our last inspection in March 2022, the service was rated as good overall, with a requires improvement rating in the safe key question. At this inspection, the ratings have remained the same.

Updated 16 July 2025

Cygnet Hexham Hospital is a mental health service for women located in Northumberland. Admissions were accepted for women aged 18 and over, whether informal or detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA), who were experiencing an acute episode of mental illness that could not be safely managed in the community. The hospital has 2 wards:

Fisher Ward – a 17-bed acute mental health ward. This ward supports women who are experiencing an acute episode of mental illness and require emergency admission.

Franklin Ward – a 10-bed psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU). This ward provides care for women who need emergency or crisis admission.

The inspection was prompted in part by information we held about the service which indicated potential risks relating to patient safety, medicines management and governance. We also received an anonymous whistleblowing concern that raised concerns about the management and culture at the service. A decision was made to inspect to examine those risks.

We carried out a comprehensive inspection of the service on 9, 10 and 11 September 2025. Following concerns identified with medicines management during this inspection, we returned on 8 October 2025 to review.

The inspection team included 4 inspectors, one of whom was a medicines inspector. We were supported by a nurse acting as a specialist adviser to CQC and by an expert by experience who made phone calls to patients and carers.

We rated the service as overall good with requires improvement in the safe key question. This was because we found a breach of legal requirements relating to governance and management of medicines.

Updated 25 September 2019