THE mental health hospital that has sparked concerns after a series of deaths has taken the rare step of opening its doors in a bid to show the changes it has made.

Mill View hospital in Hove came in for heavy criticism after University of Brighton student Janet Müller was able to escape twice in one day, through the front door and over a garden wall, before being killed.

For the first time, the hospital allowed a journalist inside its Caburn Ward.

Clinical and service director Gurprit Pannu said: “The reason we are here is the tragic circumstances of Janet’s death and the coroner’s inquest.”

Janet spent eight days in Caburn Ward suffering from an undiagnosed psychotic illness.

Speaking to The Argus, Dr Pannu said: “What you have witnessed is real evidence not just words, of change.

“Substantial changes are being made.”

The garden wall, over which Janet climbed on the night of March 12, 2015, has been replaced with a 5m anti-climb fence.

Doors to the ward, which Janet and two other patients after her managed to sneak out of, have now been replaced with two pairs of double doors. They create an airlock in between so if a patient manages to get through one they will not get very far.

The hospital also has a new alert system installed so that if a patient absconds from their ward the front reception can be notified and the main doors to the hospital locked to prevent them getting too far.

Dr Pannu said: “There’s always a challenge in getting the right balance that feels therapeutic. People are coming in for care and have to trust us, but that has to be balanced against people getting away.

“Our systems are way above what any other acute hospital has.”

“I recognise that I am a fallible human being. I have more to learn. We have taken staff through further development making them aware of risk assessments.

“We are bringing good people in and we are able to keep staffing at levels where we can cope with absence.

“Staffing is being kept at national levels.

“And when someone does call in sick we have an internal bank.”

Janet’s death is not the only tragedy which has secured Caburn Ward’s grim reputation.

Since 2011, six patients treated on the ward have died. Concerns have been raised by coroners and watchdog the Quality Care Commission on numerous ocasions.

The trust has said it is trying to be more transparent and that there have been no deaths linked to Caburn Ward since Janet’s.

WE WANT TO SPEND OUR TIME NURSING

Caburn Ward cares for some of the most vulnerable women in Sussex.

Some patients are there voluntarily while others have been detained under the Mental Health Act.

But staff are at pains to show the 22-bed ward – and Mill View Hospital as a whole – is no prison.

Through light, airy corridors patients can see out to the lush green grounds. Staff can only enter Caburn Ward by using their security fobs on two sets of doors.

Despite the security measures, once inside patients enter a calm bright space with an art therapy room for the women to express themselves and a communal dining area to make drinks.

The X-shaped ward has bedrooms down two corridors and treatment rooms and communal areas in the other. From the nursing station in the centre staff can see everything that’s going on without imposing on their patients.

Patients stay here on average for 28 to 34 days – but families are encouraged to visit and help with their care.

A special family room allows sick mothers to spend time with their children even though under 18s are not allowed on the main ward.

Staff say the changes which make the unit more secure make their workload easier. Instead of having to check whether anyone is climbing the garden wall or sneaking out of the doors, they are able to focus more attention on providing care and support.

Caburn Ward manager Phil Lamble said: “We are not security guards. We want to work with patients and the more time we spend nursing the better.”

All of the staff who dealt with Janet Muller during her eight-day stay on the ward have been affected by her death.

While failings within the hospital were highlighted, the medical staff who gave evidence at Janet’s inquest showed their dedication and desire to help patients, even when their hands were tied by the demands and bureaucracy of the job.

Mr Lamble said: “A lot of the ladies here are the most vulnerable patients we see. Whenever there’s an incident like Janet’s death, obviously our concerns are incomparable to how the family feels, and the concerns of the public, but we all care about our patients. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t.

“When you have to go to a coroner’s court and reflect on everything you did and didn’t do, that’s something that stays with you.”

Clinical and service director Gurprit Pannu made a heartfelt apology to Janet’s family on behalf of all of the trust’s staff.

Mr Lamble said the trust needed to say sorry to the wider public.

He said: “Our apology needs to extend to the general public, to restore confidence in our service.

“The service we provide at Mill View and in particular Caburn ward is improving.”

By having more staff nurses, people are more loyal.

One issue of concern highlighted in the inquest was the lack of consistency between the handover notes left from one shift for the next.

Staff coming on shift were often unaware of risks to Janet observed earlier in the day.

Mr Lamble said: “We have redesigned the handover forms and now only keep the shift co- ordinator copies. All the other records are destroyed so there’s no discrepancy. We have gone over to a paperless system, but at the time of Janet’s death we were working on two different systems.”

Another way nurses are being given more freedom to treat patients is that they are now allocated set time to engage with patients therapeutically without any other demands.

The hospital suffers the same stretch of resources as NHS institutions across the country, but bosses claim they are now on top of staffing crises.

On the night Janet escaped, Caburn Ward was short staffed with just one nurse on duty.

Lead nurse Mark Melling said recruiting more staff nurses, and an internal bank system of staff willing to take on overtime was helping to resolve the issue of staffing that proved so catastrophic to Jane.

Janet had been distressed but the only nurse on duty said she could not spend as much time with her as she would have liked.

Mr Melling said staff nurses were generally more loyal to their employer and colleagues and more likely to take on an extra shift if needed.

Mr Melling said: “People who come in to hospital need staff to be caring and compassionate. We talk to all our staff before they start about our safety policies. “ Staff are frank about the difficulties they face. “I don’t think we will ever be able to completely protect people,” Mr Lamble said.

Asked what areas of concern they would identify, they said they were proud of the Care Quality Commission’s latest findings.

The watchdog inspected Sussex Partnership’s acute mental health wards in April following a damning report last September.

Mr Lamble said the only safety concern on Caburn Ward identified by inspectors was a box of washing powder left out.

However, the latest inspection continued to raise concerns about risk assessment.

The report also identified that a new non-ligature foam door had been installed on Caburn Ward after an incident of self harm.

Staff had also not met the trust’s own training targets.

On another trust ward, Woodlands in Hastings, there was a fire but patients continued to be allowed to have cigarette lighters.

‘THE GARDEN FEELS MUCH MORE RELAXED’

ISABELLE, not her real name, is a former patient who offers peer support and guides trust bosses on recruiting staff and helping with patient concerns.

She knows what it feels like to be on both sides of Caburn’s doors She said: “I first came here 12 years ago. The changes I have seen have been extremely positive. It feels far more safe in here and much more patient focused. Patients are people.

“Personally I think the new fence is a great idea. It’s not great being in hospital and now the garden feels much more relaxed.”

She said the changes had made a cultural difference on the ward adding that women sometimes spent days on end plotting their escape.

She said: “I’m only 5ft 4in and knew I would never be able to get over the old garden wall but I still thought about it.”