A HEALTH watchdog has taken action against a newly reopened mental health facility near Dorchester.

News of the binding agreement secured by watchdog Monitor was announced on the day the Waterston Assessment Unit, previously known as the Minterne Ward, reopened following a £1million refurbishment.

The ward at the Forston Clinic was forced to close in December after a report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) identified a number of concerns about the quality of care for patients.

Monitor claims it has been actively reviewing the way providers Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust had handled the situation and concluded that it had potentially breached its licence by failing to appropriately address various issues over a substantial period of time.

It says work with the CQC revealed a board level failure from the Trust to identify and manage problems and weak governance arrangements.

Monitor has now used new powers to secure a binding agreement to make improvements to leadership and governance of Dorset HealthCare.

The Trust has agreed to a series of legally binding undertakings that ensure it will comply with the CQC recommendations published in the report and Monitor says it may take further action if sufficient progress is not made.

Managing director for provider regulation at Monitor Stephen Hay said: “The Trust has failed to tackle long-standing quality issues and we are concerned that this indicates that the board is not performing effectively.

“Monitor has acted in the best interests of patients to ensure that the Trust takes urgent action and will hold it to account if it fails to make the necessary improvements.”

Chief executive of Dorset HealthCare Paul Sly responded to the Monitor announcement by claiming all requests from the watchdog had been complied with and his Trust would continue to prove that the issues raised by the CQC had been addressed.

He said: “We are confident that care at the Forston Clinic is of a very high standard.

“Our work now needs to focus on reassuring people of this – which is why we held an open day at the Waterston Assessment Unit and will continue to assist Monitor with their review.

“We will respond promptly and positively to any recommendations made in the planned external review of our governance arrangements.

“Indeed steps have already been taken to ensure a strong and clear focus on quality of care, including the formation of an executive quality committee.

“We deeply regret previous failure to address the issues identified on Minterne Ward in a fast and efficient manner.

“This was for a number of reasons all of which have now been resolved.

“Since then we have invested a huge amount of time, energy and resource to make sure we now have a service that we can take pride in and which we would happily have our friends and family treated in.”