"More work urgently needs to be done" for a mental health hospital to improve.

The Priory Hospital North London in Southgate, Enfield, is in dire need of improvement after a Care Quality Commission inspection in April and May 2018.

This is a dramatic fall after a previous inspection in August 2016, when it received “Good overall”.

Dr Paul Lelliott, deputy chief inspector said: “Since our last inspection in August 2016, we consider the quality of care at The Priory Hospital North London has declined.

“More work urgently needs to be done to improve the safety, especially on the wards for younger people.

“I want to see an improvement all round by this provider before we return to inspect again.”

The hospital was considered "Inadequate" for safety, effective caring and “Good” for being responsive.

The inspectors looked at wards for children, young people and adults and revealed a number of concerns after a young person died earlier this year.

A Priory hospital spokesperson said: “We are very disappointed by the findings of this report and are taking immediate actions to address the issues identified.

“We immediately brought in additional management resource to support our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and we are acting swiftly to make the required environmental and other improvements.

“We are also continuing to invest substantially in wider site improvements including enhancing our CCTV-based patient security system across key areas of the hospital.

“We created a further 12 ‘safer rooms’ in 2018 to support the needs of our most unwell patients.

“The safety and wellbeing of our patients continues to be our overriding priority.”