The move followed an inspection of the trust's ward at 439 Ipswich Road in November,  which cares for up to 11 adults.

Stuart Dunn, CQC deputy director of mental health in the East of England, said: ‘We were concerned to find leaders at 439 Ipswich Road weren't always acting quickly on safety concerns raised by their staff or the people in their care, although they did respond quickly when we raised them.'

The CQC said safeguarding incidents affecting people's physical or sexual safety hadn't been thoroughly investigated or reported to the local authority or CQC.

In addition, two people had been admitted without risk assessments due to bed shortage on pressures on other wards.

One person having suicidal thoughts reported a large hole in a garden fence because they were concerned they could leave easily.

Dunn added: ‘We raised these findings to the trust as urgent concerns, needing immediate action. Leaders have since completed retrospective incident reports and shared these with the local authority and the police where appropriate. They have increased the number of staff to protect people and organised community meetings to discuss sexual safety.  

‘They have risk-assessed everyone on the ward and moved some people to other services more appropriate for their needs. The garden fence has been fixed, and the garden as a whole made safer. 

‘While this is appropriate, leaders knew about these issues and should have acted earlier. We've shared our full findings with them and will continue to closely monitor the service to ensure people are kept safe while long-term improvements are made and embedded.' 

Paul Scott, chief executive of EPUT, said: ‘We welcome the CQC's feedback and are committed to working with them as we continue to focus on the transformation of our mental health services to ensure all patients receive the consistently high quality and therapeutic care they deserve.'