Failing mental health charity under statutory enquiry
Concerns about how the current trustees at St Andrew's Healthcare are complying with their legal duties has led to the Charity Commission opening a statutory inquiry
By Sarah Ward
The charity’s regulator has today made public that St Andrew’s Healthcare is under a statutory inquiry.
The charity is the subject of a number of police investigations regarding alleged assault on patients and earlier this year the NHS ordered that commissioners make alternative arrangements and remove patients as it did not have ‘adequate assurance’ that patient safety was improving as quickly as it should be.
Now the Charity Commission has progressed the regulatory compliance case it opened in March, after concerns about oversight of safeguarding and the financial viability of the charity, to a statutory enquiry. It says the statutory was begun at the end of April - however the detail has only been made public today.
In a statement the regulator said:
“In March 2026, the Commission 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.
“Due to these ongoing concerns, the regulator has now escalated its engagement with the charity to a statutory inquiry.
“The inquiry will examine the extent to which the trustees are complying or have complied with their legal duties in respect of the administration, governance and management of the charity, with particular regard to:
the extent to which the current trustees are engaging and cooperating with relevant regulators, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and NHS England
the adequacy of governance processes which currently oversee the charity, and the extent to which these can address ongoing concerns, including those related to safeguarding, the provision of care and financial oversight
the future viability/status of the charity and issues related to any proposed changes to its structure, objects and functions
the extent of any reputational harm caused to the charity
The commission said it may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge.
It said regarding safeguarding its focus is on the conduct of trustees and the steps they have taken to protect beneficiaries, employees, volunteers and others who come into contact with the charity through its work.
Amid its financial and governance troubles St Andrew’s suddenly closed the long running Workbridge day centre for adults with learning difficulties last year.
The current chair of the trustees is Steve Gray, who has been in post since December when former long standing chair Paul Burstow (and former Lib Dem MP) stood down. Chief executive Dr Vivienne McVey retired amid the scandal in March and was replaced by the former boss of the Priory group Trevor Torrington.
The troubles began for the charity, whose main hospital is in Northampton, last summer when CQC inspectors found serious issues at the psychiatric hospital. In August the charity, submitted a serious incident report to the charity regulator concerning potential mistreatment of patients at the charity’s Northampton site which it had referred to the police for investigation.
In a statement today a spokesperson for St Andrew’s said:
“St Andrew’s Healthcare is working collaboratively with the Charity Commission, which has now opened an inquiry following the charity reporting potential care issues last summer.
“Our priority is to ensure safe care for all patients and to drive rapid improvements in quality. A detailed action plan is already underway, overseen with the support of NHS England, and driven by new leadership at Board, Executive and clinical levels.”
Last week Labour MP Mike Reader posted a social media video saying he had had recent meetings with the NHS to understand what actions were being undertaken to safeguard patients. He said there was ‘still a lot of work to do’ to ensure that services are retained in Northampton.
If you have not seen the news, PM Keir Starmer has today stood down following Andy Burnham’s election success. Burnham’s main challenger for the premiership Wes Streeting has this morning said he will not stand against Burnham.
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