Bosses of secure units for people with mental health problems have been ordered to make improvements after concerns were raised about a rise in "sexualised behaviour".

Care Quality Commission inspectors visited two centres in Dartford managed by Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership (KMPT).

They went to wards at the Brookfield and Tarentfort centres, both at KMPT’s Greenacres in Bow Arrow Lane, in March and again in April after receiving "several sexual safeguarding notifications", a spokesman for the watchdog said.

At Tarentfort, inspectors found there had been "an increase in incidents of a sexual nature".

People who lived there also told them "food quality was poor" and they preferred to buy their own snacks because they had raised it with management but nothing had been done.

Meanwhile, after inspecting Brookfield, which had previously been rated "outstanding", the CQC downgraded it to "requires improvement".

Residents complained of being woken up at night by staff opening and closing cupboard doors near their bedrooms.

Serena Coleman, CQC deputy director of operations in the south, said: “Although we saw kind, caring staff who were working hard to meet people’s needs, leaders didn’t have good enough processes in place to make sure they always had the knowledge and skills to keep people safe.

“Most staff told us they had generic mental health backgrounds but some staff had little to no previous experience of working with autistic people and people with a learning disability.

"Although training was available, it wasn’t mandatory, so some staff couldn’t identify the needs of people using the service.

“As a matter of urgency, we’ve told the trust they must ensure people being admitted to the forensic wards are placed there appropriately and are supported with therapy to reduce the increased number of incidents involving sexualised behaviour.

“People told us that some staff across both services sometimes had an attitude and were rude when they spoke to them, this needs to be addressed to ensure people are treated with dignity.

“However, people also told us they were generally happy, and we found that staff supported them to lead independent lives, encouraging them to pursue their interests."

At the time of inspection three members of staff at Brookfield were not up to date with the mandatory training, KMPT admitted, however they now are.

The trust pointed out that more than half of the nursing workforce at Brookfield, who are also shared with Tarentfort, were registered learning disability and autism nurses at the time, which the CQC acknowledged as a post inspection addition in its report.

“As an organisation that is committed to continuous improvement there will always be areas where we can do better...”

New training on disability and autism was also introduced in April, which nearly 82% of staff have completed.

KMPT said that between April 2022 and March 2023, three sexual safeguarding allegations were made at Tarentfort – none were raised in this period at Brookfield and none of these incidents involved staff, it added.

The report said the allegations concerned a specific individual who had been “inappropriately placed at the centre”.

Work was already in place to ensure people being admitted to forensic wards were placed there appropriately and received appropriate therapeutic interventions, it said.

The report did acknowledge that staff knew and understood people well and were responsive, supporting their aspirations to live a quality life of their choosing.

“We are also pleased to see the positive feedback provided about our staff, particularly that they are kind and caring...”

Andy Cruickshank, KMPT’s chief nurse, said: “As an organisation that is committed to continuous improvement there will always be areas where we can do better, and we welcome the CQC’s scrutiny of our specialist services in Brookfield and Tarentfort.

“Since their inspections, we have already addressed most of their immediate recommendations.

“Some of their broader findings around processes and systems align with what we already knew, and have committed to improving through our new three-year strategy, published in May.

“We are also pleased to see the positive feedback provided about our staff, particularly that they are kind and caring and our service users say they felt safe, happy and their wishes are at the heart of everything our people do.”