Headway’s approved provider scheme utilises standards developed to reflect the specific needs of individuals with an acquired brain injury (ABI). These standards are used to evaluate a range of facilities including hospitals and neuro-rehabilitation units, residential and nursing homes and respite facilities.
The process includes a robust on-site assessment, within an inspection system that also involves unannounced interim reviews. The Headway assessment team visited the two services on 21st February 2022 and spoke with staff and a service user.
The service was evaluated across six domains; Culture, Systems & Processes, Workforce Development, Service Delivery, Governance Leadership and Management & Quality, and finally, Environment. The Headway assessment team rated the services as ‘Good’ in three domains and ‘Outstanding’ for Culture, Systems & Process and Governance Leadership and Management & Quality resulting in an overall grading of ‘Good’.
The assessment report highlights many areas of positive practice, including:
- There is a strong partnership approach to care planning and goal setting this was clearly evident in discussions with the team and care plans seen.
- Staff were observed to be kind, caring, polite, maintained privacy and dignity and just as importantly were observed engaging with service users.
- Families are also supported to understand the impact of brain injury on a 1:1 basis and the team discussed two instances where families had been supported around specific issues including a service users lack of insight and, for another management of apathy.
- Service users are supported to make decisions, this may include joint working by members of the therapy and medical teams to enable this to happen, for instance the Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) working with service users.
- Care and support plans seen identified the communication and cognitive needs of service users and provided focused interventions to support them with these difficulties.
- The communication needs of service users are assessed and strategies put in place to support them to communicate effectively.
- Service users can access Math’s and English tuition if they would like to, a teacher attends the unit every week.
- Service users are also encouraged to engage in therapeutic jobs within the Hospital and have specific tasks allocated to them to complete daily, supported by staff, as necessary.
Rachel Naidu, Hospital Manager, said, “It’s a great achievement and testament to all the hard work that the team have accomplished to receive Headway Accreditation. Our primary focus is delivering outstanding care to our service users and identifying personalised goals which ensure personalised care and a sense of achievement for all of our service users. The services certainly shone brightly to the assessors!”
Cygnet Grange and Cygnet Lodge are the third and fourth of our Neuropsychiatric services to be assessed through the Headway Approved Provider following the success of Cygnet Heathers and Meadows Mews in 2020.