A hospital run by The Priory has been rated inadequate and received warning notices after inspectors found children being kept in locked rooms and one had swallowed part of a radiator grille.

The unit in High Wycombe, which opened in April last year, was ranked inadequate and subject to enforcement action following an unannounced inspection by experts from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Priory is transferring seven patients to other units and will close the hospital and de-register it with the CQC.

The unit cares for children aged 10 to 17 who have learning disabilities or autism.

Inspectors found that the hospital, which has a contract to provide NHS services, had a huge range of problems including staff who were not trained to look after youngsters with complex needs.

While fixtures and fittings were found to be well maintained on the whole, one young person had “managed to swallow objects such as screws, wire and a part of a radiator grille”, the CQC report said.

Other issues included children having leave cancelled due to a lack of staff, particularly at weekends, and some youngsters being searched when they came back from leave for no obvious reason and without parental consent.

Parents also said their children were not given enough exercise or allowed to do things in the community.

If they were allowed out, it was sometimes only to the car park or on a short journey to the supermarket, they said.

CQC inspectors also found girls being kept in locked rooms, which meant they were deprived of their independence as they could not go to the toilet or get a drink.

The door between the female bedroom corridor and the female lounge was locked, as was the door between the female lounge and the kitchen, they said.

The report added: “We observed a young person alone in the female lounge with the door locked and no staff present, which meant that she was unable to leave the room, use the toilet or get a drink of water without staff intervention.

“CQC took enforcement action in relation to this following the inspection.”

Inspectors also found some staff describing children as “lazy” and “antagonistic”, and there had been four incidents where nurses had administered the wrong dose of medication.

The report said less than half of the staff had completed most of the required mandatory training courses.

“This included courses we consider essential when working with young people with complex needs such as safeguarding children (40%), basic life support (8%) and fire safety (30%).

“Most staff working at the service did not have any experience working with people with learning disabilities or autism and no specialist training had been provided to them.”

Only 33% of staff had completed training in the Mental Health Act and 25% in the Mental Capacity Act.

A Priory spokeswoman said: “Despite significant investment in the site and efforts to recruit experienced staff to drive improvements at this fledgling service, we have not been able to reduce the reliance on agreed levels of agency staff as quickly as forecast.

“This has led to a number of instances where established operational policies and practices have not been adhered to which has resulted in the ‘unacceptable’ inspection rating.

“Whilst we have made changes to the leadership and management of the unit in order to embed the comprehensive improvements initiated in October 2018, we recognise that these may not be capable of being sustained in the longer term without an experienced, settled team of core nursing and clinical staff.

“Accordingly, we have decided it is in the best interests of the seven young people at High Wycombe to work with the NHS in identifying suitable alternative placements for them including at other, established Priory units with more experienced staff. The service will close with effect from 16 February 2019.”