The rating was immediately questioned by the parents of Louise Walsom, from Westhumble, who took her own life last year at the age of 18.
Louise died while on day leave from Elgar ward, which is run by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SBPFT), and a report into her death found "significant deficiencies" in her care.
Now, family members of more former patients have come forward.
In a letter to the Advertiser, one woman, who had a close family member in Elgar ward earlier this year, claimed patients there were "being medicated, locked in the ward, left to their own devices" and that some staff showed "little compassion".
She also claimed other families she had spoken to had similar experiences.
"On reading they had been rated 'excellent', we were horrified," she wrote. "The ward appeared to be short-staffed most of the time; the staff themselves in Elgar ward repeatedly complained about being understaffed."
The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she is thankful her family member is still alive.
She added: "There were so many incidents with our relative that we are in the process of making a complaint.
"Standards need to be raised significantly, or I fear more lives could be lost."
Another person who came forward after the Advertiser's article earlier this month was a Dorking man whose son took his own life in 2008, while on leave from Elgar ward.
The father, who wished to remain anonymous, said he thought SBPFT had failed to learn from inquests, such as those into the deaths of Professor Ben Pettet in 2005 and his son in 2008, before Louise Walsom died last year.
He said: "It could be concluded that the recommendations from these inquests have either been ignored or, if implemented, they have not been implemented effectively.
"I know of several other suicides or suicide attempts over the last seven years."
He added: "I have no confidence in SBPFT or the Care Quality Commission's management and its ability to protect patients.
"We, the survivors of suicide, would like to be reassured that if mistakes are made, a remedy has been found and that procedures and processes have been modified so that these mistakes cannot occur again, and that future patients will be protected."
He also said he believed SBPFT does not communicate well enough with families of its patients.
"For example, I only learned at the inquest that my son had boiling water poured over his face by a fellow patient, and had made a previous attempt to commit suicide while on the ward, which was apparently not considered serious enough for them to tell me about because it had failed, and he was on leave at the time of his death," he said.
"This [article in the Advertiser] may not change a thing within SBPFT, but it will keep the spotlight on them throughout the year.
"It will also warn family and friends of patients of the potential risks in the treatment of mental illness within the NHS.
"It is a regrettable fact that some of those suffering from mental illness will attempt suicide.
"However, some are preventable and all patients must be given the best possible chance."
According to SBPFT, there have been four "unexpected deaths" of inpatients who were on leave from the hospital's mental health wards since January 2011.
Jo Young, director of quality at SBPFT, said there had not been "systematic failings" at the hospital.
"Many people who use our services have a positive experience," she said.
"In fact, for every letter of complaint these services received last year, six others wrote to us to praise the quality of service they had received.
"If people feel our standards have fallen short, however, we always seek to understand why.
"I often meet with families personally to explore their concerns and see what we can do differently, and I extend this invitation to the families who have written in.
"We also welcome external reviews from organisations, including our regulators, coroners, our commissioners and from professional organisations such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists, so that we can get further insight and make improvements based on this feedback.
"We have made a number of changes on our Epsom wards recently, including a more extensive therapy and activities programme, now available seven days per week, and an individualised treatment programme to support people to set their own recovery goals and work towards them.
"We have also made environmental improvements to minimise people's opportunity to self harm and provided staff with additional training around granting leave and assessing risk."
Louise Walsom, from Westhumble, struggled with severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) after contracting glandular fever. She became severely depressed and took her own life at the age of 18, in May last year, while on day leave from Elgar ward at Epsom Hospital. Last year, a report into Louise's death recorded 'significant deficiencies' in relation to her care. In a letter to the Advertiser, her parents stated: "We held a meeting with senior representatives of the hospital in only July of this year, to discuss these, including the inadequacies in the facilities, therapy and staff care. "Indeed, one of the main reasons our daughter was on a few hours' day leave, and not on the ward, when she took her own life was because of these inadequacies. "The hospital's representatives did not dispute these inadequacies and gave indications of being willing to help work on some of them. "However, we did not come away from that meeting with the impression that the wards had significantly improved at the time of the meeting, nor were we convinced that matters would necessarily improve greatly afterwards. "Yet, apparently, the situation at the hospital is now so 'excellent' that the wards' accreditation has reached the pinnacle." The family of a professor who took his own life while he was a patient on Delius ward seven years ago was awarded more than £500,000 in a court settlement. Professor Benjamin Pettet, from Reigate, died on the ward at Epsom hospital in June 2005, after a battle with depression. Four years later, a judge ordered SBPFT Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to pay the family £550,000. The Advertiser's sister paper, the Surrey Mirror, reported that the family's barrister, James Badenoch QC, said Professor Pettet was 'not recognised as a serious suicide risk'. He added: "He was not looked after properly, if at all. There was a deplorable lack of care and on every single count, they failed in the care of this professor." Elgar and Delius wards are inpatient facilities at Epsom Hospital for adults suffering from 'acute psychiatric illness'. They serve people living in Mole Valley, Epsom and Ewell and Elmbridge, and are run by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Elgar has 26 beds and Delius 14 beds, and both were recently rated 'excellent' in a national accreditation scheme developed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. The Accreditation for Inpatient Mental Health Services (AIMS) scheme rates services on 142 areas including admission, safety, therapy, facilities and environment. Wards are re-assessed every four years – so Elgar and Delius are now rated as 'excellent' until 2016. Between now and the next accreditation, the wards will have to submit an annual self-review and undergo a peer review every other year. Young people must be given more help and support to prevent them developing serious mental health problems, according to a senior cognitive therapist. People up to the age of 18 can be referred by their GP to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), a therapeutic service run by Surrey County Council and the NHS. But Nancy Williams, who runs the Studio ADHD Centre in Capel, said: "We are constantly contacted by parents of children and adolescents who feel CAMHS does not meet their needs appropriately, and that more cognitive behavioural therapy should be available to children and parents that would prevent situations escalating to the point where admission [to hospital] is necessary. "Once it has reached that stage and children are hospitalised, it is much harder to treat their mental health problems, which often initially started with anxiety and depression." She added: "Lack of the right preventative support in pre-teens becomes hugely more costly for the local authority in long-term outcomes, as mental health problems in adolescence often continue into adulthood. "Recent national statistics show there is a huge increase in young people's mental health needs, and much of this can be attributed to fewer social and community opportunities, easy availability of mind-altering substances, increased promotion of violence, pornography and cyber bullying, and less optimism and spiritual belief in the future as a good place to grow up in." For more information about CAMHS, visit www.surrey-camhs.org.uk or call 01306 502708.