Regulator to investigate hospital's leadership

The Charity Commission has opened an investigation into the running of a mental health hospital that has been facing allegations of abuse and neglect.

The regulator will examine how the trustees of St Andrew's Healthcare in Northampton oversaw the safeguarding of patients, the BBC was told.

It would also be examining the charity's financial viability and the way it was run.

St Andrew's Healthcare did not respond when approached for comment.

Last month, the BBC revealed 15 staff members had been arrested since October 2024 following allegations of rape, ill-treatment and neglect at the hospital.

A spokesman for the commission said: "We have now 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" was also being investigated, he added.

The spokesman said the Charity Commission was speaking to the charity's trustees and other regulators "to determine our next steps".

On Wednesday NHS England (NHSE) announced that 287 inpatients currently being treated at the Northampton site would be taken out of the hospital and alternative arrangements for treatment would be found.

A spokesman for St Andrew's confirmed it had also reported this to the Charity Commission.

On the same day that NHSE announced the withdrawal of patients from the hospital, Dr Vivienne McVey, the chief executive of St Andrew's Healthcare, informed colleagues she was retiring after three years in the role.

St Andrew's is described as "the UK's leading independent charitable provider" of specialist mental health care.

Most of its patients are referred to the hospital by the NHS and include people with psychiatric illness, learning disabilities, acquired brain injury and related disorders.

In the most recent full financial year, the charity's income was of more than £235m.

It also operates facilities in Birmingham and Essex, which were unaffected by NHSE's decision to withdraw patients.

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