Welcome and introduction

Guild Lodge is a secure mental health hospital for men and women from the Lancashire and South Cumbria areas of North West England.

The hospital is located in the grounds of Guild Park, about four miles north of the City of Preston in Lancashire. Guild Lodge is part of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust.

Guild Lodge provides secure inpatient and community mental health. It has four care pathways:

  • Women’s Care Pathway

  • Male Care Pathway

  • Male Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Care Pathway

  • Forensic Outreach and Liaison Services (FOLs) which is made up of the Forensic Community Mental Health Team and the Forensic Outreach Service.

Guild Lodge has a total capacity of 164 beds incorporating medium, low and step-down provision.

Levels of Security

  • Medium secure: caters for a number of different client groups, including people stepping down from high security, service users referred from the courts and prisons, service users referred from general adult mental health services and those who have proved difficult to manage in low security

  • Low secure: caters similarly for a number of different client groups, including people stepping down from medium security, service users referred from general adult mental health services, and those referred from the courts and prisons

  • Step down: used exclusively for service users who have progressed through the secure care pathway and are in transition back to community services

Guild Lodge provides a seamless and continuous service from admission through to discharge and living in community placements.

Aims of the Service

The overall purpose of our service is to provide high standards of assessment, care and treatment for people with mental health care needs, and to respond to these needs in a way that safeguard service users, staff and the general public.

Whilst the hospital is described as secure, and has obvious characteristics that make it look like a secure environment, the care provided is monitored to maintain high standards that are tailored to the needs of each person living here. The conditions of security are applied only with safety in mind.

Who is admitted for care at Guild Lodge?

Each ward within Guild Lodge provides single sex care. We are also mindful of the needs of individuals identifying as trans, and provide individualised care to support these needs.

The Service Users resident at Guild Lodge in general have the following needs:

  • People who have mental health problems and have also committed an offence

  • People whom have been given a psychiatric diagnosis and whom show a pattern of challenging behaviour, that by virtue of its severity and frequency requires secure accommodation and rehabilitation

  • People whose behaviours are likely to place others (and often themselves) at risk. There may also be a history of repeated absconding and disengagement from services

Men’s Care Pathway - medium secure

Fairsnape Ward

Fairsnape has eight beds for men and provides a medium secure admission and bespoke 12 week assessment function.

Calder Ward

Calder has 10 beds for men and provides a medium secure admission, assessment and treatment function.

Greenside Ward

Greenside has 12 beds for men and provides an on-going medium secure care and treatment function.

Mallowdale Ward

Mallowdale has eight beds for men and provides an on-going medium secure care and treatment function.

Marshaw Ward

Marshaw has 10 beds for men and provides a Long Term Medium Secure (LTMS) function.

Men’s Care Pathway - low secure and step down

Fairoak Ward

Fairoak has 18 beds for men and provides low secure rehabilitation for service users stepping down from medium secure care

Dutton Ward

Dutton has 15 beds for men and provides low secure admission and assessment as well as ongoing low secure care and treatment

Fellside West

Fellside West has 10 beds for men and provides unlocked and step-down rehabilitation. It also has five self-contained flatlets. This facility is accessed by male service users stepping down from medium secure and low secure care within the male care pathway. It does not accept direct admissions from outside of the Guild Lodge.

The Hermitage

Hermitage has 10 beds for men and provides unlocked and step-down rehabilitation. This facility is accessed by male service users stepping down from medium secure and low secure care within the Male Care Pathway. It does not accept direct admissions from outside of the Guild Lodge.

Men’s ABI Care Pathway

Bleasdale Medium Secure Ward

Bleasdale has nine beds for men and provides a medium secure ABI admission assessment and treatment function.

Whinfell Medium Secure Ward

Whinfell has nine beds and provides a medium secure ABI admission assessment and treatment function.

Langden Low Secure Ward

Langden has 15 beds for men and provides a low secure admission, assessment and treatment and rehabilitation function.

The Men’s ABI Care Pathway is a regional service provided to the North West region as a whole.

Women’s Care Pathway

Elmridge Medium Secure Ward

Elmridge has nine beds for women and provides a medium secure admission, assessment and treatment function.

Fellside East Low Secure Ward

Fellside East has eight beds for women and provides low secure admission and assessment as well as ongoing low secure care and treatment.

Forest Beck Step-down Ward

Forest Beck has eight beds for women and provides a step-down service for service users stepping out of medium secure and low secure care within the Female Care Pathway. It does not accept direct admissions from outside of the Guild Lodge.

Forensic Outreach and Liaison Services (FOLs)

Forensic Community Mental Health Team

Provides forensic community nurses, social work supervision and forensic consultant psychiatrist follow up for service users discharged into the community from Guild Lodge inpatient services.

Forensic Outreach Service

The team provides risk assessment, formulation and management advice to local acute services and community teams for service users with enduring mental health conditions and present a risk to others. The team aims to support service users to remain within the least restrictive environment.

Within acute settings, the team may support in-patient teams in managing service users whose presentation in the acute setting is putting them at risk of being admitted to secure services, therefore try and prevent this. This input may include risk management advice on the ward and working towards safe discharge planning into the community.

Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) Working

Within Guild Lodge, service users have access to a broad range of expertise with staff from a diverse pool of professional backgrounds.

These include:

  • Registered Mental Health Nurses and health care support workers

  • Clinical practitioners and associate practitioners

  • Ward based occupational therapy assistants

  • Consultant forensic and rehabilitation psychiatrists

  • Trainee psychiatrists

  • Clinical nurse specialists

  • Patient safety and clinical risk manager

  • Occupational therapists and technical instructors (including physical activities coordinators)

  • Clinical psychologists, psychological therapists and psychology assistants

  • Social workers and approved social workers

  • Forensic community mental health nurses

  • Clinical pharmacists

  • Primary healthcare services include a General Practitioner and Practice Nurse, dental care, podiatry, and dietician, speech and language therapy

  • Advocacy

  • Hospital Chaplain and other ministers and spiritual leaders

Multi-Disciplinary Team working is at the heart of practice at Guild Lodge. Good team work enables the provision of effective, comprehensive care. Responding effectively to service user needs is the primary task of the team.

All relevant professionals contribute to this process and to the creation of a safe and therapeutic care environment, whilst maintaining good inter-professional relationships.

Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

If you have some concerns, questions or need advice on our services, you can contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) on 0800 234 6088 or email PALS@lscft.nhs.uk

Feeling low and need someone to talk to?

Call 0800 915 4640

Monday to Friday 7pm to 11pm, Saturday to Sunday 12noon to midnight

Need urgent help?

Call 0800 953 0110, 24 hours a day, seven days a week

This leaflet is available in alternative languages and formats upon request. Please speak to a member of our staff to arrange this.