THE company which runs mental health hospital Linden House has promised to improve after it was fined £5,000 for breaching care standards.

Care Principles Limited pleaded guilty to five charges relating to the administration of medication at Beverley Magistrates' Court.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the health and social care regulator for England, took the company to court after inspections found a string of serious failings at the low to medium-secure hospital in Market Weighton.

The CQC had warned the hospital could be closed if improvements were not made.

But now the company has vowed to learn from its mistakes and move on.

Sean Sullivan, chief executive of Care Principles, said: "Our focus, as a new management team, has been and will continue to be the welfare of our patients.

"We accept the outcome and fully acknowledge the importance of these legal proceedings.

"At Linden House and throughout the group we continue to make improvements and acknowledge the role the CQC has played in working with us to rectify the issues, which we recognised and took responsibility for early in the process.

"Everyone at Care Principles, and in particular Linden House, can now put this case behind us and we will continue to work closely with our regulators to uphold the highest standards and deliver the best possible service to patients."

The charges relate to evidence the CQC collected at the hospital during unannounced visits in September 2008.

The company was prosecuted over its failure to provide the minimum legal standards of care and was also ordered to pay £12,000 costs.

During inspections, the CQC had found minimum standards were not being met at the hospital in relation to issues including staffing levels, observational levels and suicide/self harm audits not being completed.