Head Office

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

Staff treated young people with kindness and compassion. Young people told us staff were respectful, caring, and patient. We observed positive interactions between staff and young people and a good rapport.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Patients said staff treated them well and behaved appropriately towards them. Staff understood the individual needs of patients, including their personal, cultural, social and religious needs.

Staff attitudes and behaviours when interacting with patients showed that they were discreet, respectful and responsive, providing patients with help, emotional support and advice at the time they needed it. Staff supported patients to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition. Staff directed patients to other services when appropriate and, if required, supported them to access those services.

Staff said they could raise concerns about disrespectful, discriminatory or abusive behaviour or attitudes towards patients without fear of the consequences. Staff maintained the confidentiality of information about patients.

We saw that the service was in constant communication with the care coordinator and commissioners and were actively supporting discharge planning for patients. We spoke to several care coordinators as part of our assessment and received positive feedback from all of them about the communication and risk management of patients.

Staff were present always present in communal areas at each house we visited. We observed positive interactions with the patients including staff sitting and chatting and engaging in activities and saw staff had a good rapport with the patients they were worked with, knew them well and had made strong connections.

Patients had a choice of food to meet the dietary requirements of religious and ethnic groups and to account for allergies and intolerances. Staff ensured that patients could access appropriate spiritual support in their local community and supported them to do so.

Staff ensured that patients could obtain information on treatments, local services, patients’ rights, how to complain and so on. The information provided was in a form accessible to the particular patient group (for example, in easy-read form for people with a learning disability).

Staff made information leaflets available in languages spoken by patients if required. Managers ensured that staff and patients had easy access to interpreters and/or signers.

We observed positive interactions. We observed staff engaging the patients in activities such as preparing food, games and general conversation about plans and what they wanted to do when they went out for the day. They also had great knowledge of the patients they were working with in terms of their interests and hobbies and staff were, where possible matched with patients who had similar interests so that they could enjoy these things together.

Care records showed that the patients were involved in care plans and risk assessments. Staff recognised the patients individual needs in their care plans. There were house meetings on a weekly basis, where they discussed any issues and fed back from the week before.

Staff supported, informed and involved families or carers where relevant. The carers we spoke with were positive and described the service as the best one their loved one had been involved with.

Staff involved the patient and gave them access to their care planning and risk assessments. Care records showed they were always offered copies of care plans, and risk assessments showed evidence of patient involvement. Staff made sure the patient understood their care and treatment. There were weekly house meetings where staff and patients met together to discuss any issues in the house and feedback on actions take. Area managers and senior leaders also visited on a regular basis and spoke with patients.

We saw staff asking the patients they worked with if they wanted to engage with an activity, if the patient declined staff would follow up suggesting other activities that the patient might like. We saw the patients going out independently and on their return staff were ready to welcome them and asses how their day had gone. We saw other staff, such as the area managers entering the houses to engage with the patients in activities or therapeutic sessions.

Care plans were clear and recorded patient involvement with their care planning. They were up to date and recorded when they were offered a copy. Care plans reflected the patient voice and identified their needs and how staff should support them with these.

Patients told us that staff we responsive to their need sand supported them to work towards their goals, ensuring that they were encouraged and supported where necessary. Patients individual needs were assessed by mental health nurses and therapies offered had been tailored to suit the needs of each patient, for example the use of equine therapy.

Staff identified and responded to changing risks to, or posed by, patients. Staff used de-escalation techniques to reduce the need for physical interventions when patients’ behaviours became heightened.

We saw staff interacting positively with the patients, they knew each other well. Staff were always present in each house we visited, they were sat with the patient and spent time carrying out tasks such as cleaning and cooking together, they were always engaging the patient in either activities or discussing previous or future plans.

Managers were available both in the day and at night to support staff and there was an on-call system in place. Staff had regular handovers to share patient information. . Managers met to discuss how the patients were responding to the care and treatment offered to them and this was fed back to care coordinators to assist with discharge planning.

Staff felt respected, supported and valued. Staff felt positive and proud about working for the provider and their team. Staff had access to support for their own physical and emotional health needs through an occupational health service. The service’s staff sickness and absence were similar to the average for the provider.

The provider recognised staff success within the service – for example, through staff awards, rewards for staff at special times of the year such as gifts for all female staff on International Women’s Day and a voucher for staff to spend on a meal or activity of their choice at Christmas. Staff appraisals included conversations about career development and how it could be supported, we saw examples of staff being supported through promotion to either the house leader role or the area manager role.