West Cliff Hall

On this page

• Overview
• Shared direction and culture
• Capable, compassionate and inclusive leaders
• Freedom to speak up
• Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion
• Governance, management and sustainability
• Partnerships and communities
• Learning, improvement and innovation

Well-led – this means we looked for evidence that service leadership, management and governance assured high-quality, person-centred care; supported learning and innovation; and promoted an open, fair culture. At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was consistently managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality, person-centred care.

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.

The service had a shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and understanding challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Staff stated they were proud to work at West Cliff Hall. They felt the management team led by example to ensure a positive culture had been created, placing people's needs and a sense of community at the heart of the service. Staff told us they lived the provider’s values of “Home of Choice, Employer of Choice, Safe and Secure” which were displayed throughout the building. Improvements in the service had been established, embedded, and sustained. Staff at all levels understood the shared vision of being transparent and proactive to support people to achieve their goals and keep them safe from avoidable harm.

The service had inclusive leaders at all levels who understood the context in which they delivered care, treatment and support and embodied the culture and values of their workforce and organisation. Leaders had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. Leaders were visible. Staff consistently told us the manager had made great improvements to the service, and they felt able to discuss their views and ideas with them. One staff member explained to us, “There has been a shift of focus and a better sense of teamwork under the current management arrangements. This feels like it has come all the way from the top as the company’s new senior manager is also very passionate about looking after staff. The view really is if you look after staff the staff will have the motivation and tools to look after residents.” Staff knew how to raise concerns and stated any concerns would be fully investigated. There were clear procedures to share information with all departments in daily team meetings.

The service fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. The provider had invested in opportunities for staff to feel valued and supported in the workplace by providing them with tools recognise abuse and be confident to “Speak Up.” West Cliff Hall had been recognised by the provider as having one of the highest levels of compliance with training, this included mandatory training. We saw information for staff about how to raise concerns throughout the home, this was documented in induction resources and meeting minutes.

The service valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them. Policies and procedures incorporated all aspects of recruitment and staffing and included retention plans, equality, diversity, fairness and protected characteristics. Resources were available to assist staff with their physical and mental health. This included an employee assistance programme. Support and reasonable adjustments were made for staff as and when needed, one staff member said, “I love working here, I find working here to be accommodating, flexible and the management are so understanding of my personal circumstances.” The registered manager informed us, “Having meaningful conversations with people is so important, if somebody has a health condition, we ask them how this may affect their work and how we can support them. We think about the language we use; we don’t call the meeting ‘supervision’ as it sounds like it is being done to the staff member. We have thought carefully about what we call them and have created different kinds of 1:1 meetings.”

The service had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They act on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and share this securely with others when appropriate. People, their relatives and visiting professionals were complimentary about the leadership of the service. A relative commented, “The management have been very welcoming, and they are always wanting feedback from us. I would choose this home again and again.” Audits completed had checked all parts of the service were working well and actions were taken to remedy any shortfall or negative impact on people. The management team demonstrated they had oversight over people's needs and risks to their health and safety. Improvements in the service had been made and sustained as they were realistic, manageable and involved people and staff in maintaining them. The registered manager had made all notifications to CQC as required by law. A notification is the action that a provider is legally bound to take to tell us about any changes to their regulated services or incidents that have taken place in them.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for people. They share information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement. The registered manager shared the service’s action plan with us, and stated the service had regular meetings with the local authority and other stakeholders to ensure effective communication. Health and social care professionals told us there had been improved collaboration with West Cliff Hall and noted referrals were made in a timely way. Comments included: “It does appear that appropriate steps had been taken prior to and following incidents” and “Despite the changes to the management team they remain focused on continued improvement and how they plan to achieve this.”

The service focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contribute to safe, effective practice and research. The registered manager and provider told us about the ways in which they were continually looking to improve the service. This included listening to feedback and being proactive in identifying learning opportunities through their audits. The registered manager had a comprehensive understanding of how to make improvements happen. Their approach was consistent, collaborative and inclusive, this sustained improvement was reflected in feedback collected by CQC. There were processes to ensure that learning happened when things went wrong. The provider encouraged reflection and collective problem-solving.