Cygnet Joyce Parker Hospital

On this page

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

Patient’s communication needs were met to enable them to engage in their care, treatment and support to maximise their experience and outcomes. Patients were supported to have choice and control over their own care and to make decisions about their care, treatment and wellbeing. Staff were supported if they were struggling at work. This had a positive impact on the care they delivered to patients. However, staff did not always respond to all patients’ needs quickly and efficiently. Staff did not always find out how to respond in the most appropriate way to respect patient wishes.

This service scored 15 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We spoke with 1 carer who expressed concerns that staff did not always respond to their relative’s needs quickly and efficiently. They told us their relative had requested medication on admission but did not receive any medication until a week later. The doctor then prescribed medication their relative told staff they tried previously which had over sedated them. The carer also told us they did not feel staff took the time to know their relative and their preferences as they had to speak to staff to sort out their meal preferences as staff did not ask. However, the carer felt most staff treated their relative with kindness and respect.

Leaders told us they had no concerns about how staff treated patients, and they observed staff being very caring and pleasant. Leaders said patients shared positive feedback with 1 patient describing the service as the best hospital they had been in. Leaders told us about a project developed by staff called ‘Kindness is key’. This project had not started when we visited but the plan was to run quarterly events and touchpoints of random acts of kindness, all to be led by frontline staff.

We spoke with a member of the multi-disciplinary team. They described communication aids that were available for patients to use, these included talking mats and visual prompts. Staff would assess a patient’s level of communication and access the resources required to support. We observed staff engaging positively with patients during our visit.

We spoke with an expert by experience employed by Cygnet. They told us their role included checking in on the wards, meeting with patients on a 1:1 basis to see how they were and escalating concerns to leaders. They attended the morning meetings to be aware of concerns and risk issues. They also chaired a monthly patient council.

Leaders advised there were 2 independent advocacy providers offering support to patients at the service. We were told advocates were presenting reports at governance meetings. Leaders sponsored the service’s own expert by experience to complete quality improvement training and they were now leading on this with the involvement of patients. We spoke with members of the multi-disciplinary team who told us they involved family and carers through carer and family forums. Carers and family members were also invited to multi-disciplinary meetings to discuss their relative’s care.

We observed a multi-disciplinary meeting where staff discussed advocacy and patient rights under the Mental Health Act with the patient.

We reviewed a patient’s records on Brook ward and saw evidence of family involvement in discussions about the patient’s care.

We spoke with 1 carer who told us their relative was unhappy with staff coming into their bedroom every 15 minutes at night and waking them up to check on them, they expressed that this made them feel unsafe. Staff were also playing loud music and playing pool at night which disturbed the carer’s relative. The carer told us these concerns were raised in a multi-disciplinary meeting and have now been resolved. We spoke with a patient during our visit who voiced concerns about the noisiness of staff at night and how they were not happy with being woken up throughout the night. The patient told us staff were always willing to support them when they wanted to go out.

Leaders told us that they ensured patients’ physical needs were responded to and they were started on any medication they may need as soon as possible. When patients were admitted from another hospital staff ensured they were provided with a minimum of three days medication. Leaders said they checked in daily with all patients for any concerns they may have and monitored community meetings to check on issues raised, and action taken.

Leaders described how they wanted to foster a new culture of caring for everyone. They told us that they visited the wards each morning to see how staff were and asked multi-disciplinary team members to also visit so staff felt supported. Leaders described supporting staff by checking in with staff following assaults and sending cakes. Leaders supported one staff member with their shopping following an injury sustained at work. Staff were going through a redundancy process at the time of our visit as a result of the transition from CAMHS to an adult acute/PICU service. Leaders told us they provided pastoral care to staff throughout this process. Most staff spoken to felt supported throughout the redundancy process, although one staff member said communication had not been great and another felt there was not enough support for staff and staff wellbeing needed working on. Staff spoken with told us that leaders were very supportive, approachable and made sure they were debriefed after incidents. Staff said leaders were on site days, nights and weekends to ensure they were able to speak with all staff. We observed staff being positive and professional despite being at risk of redundancy.