Cygnet Hospital Godden Green provides specialist acute and PICU services for women. The hospital is situated in the beautiful countryside of the Kent Weald, near Sevenoaks.
The latest inspection was carried out over two days at the end of September looking at all key lines of enquiries across all wards at the hospital. Significant improvements were identified across a number of areas and as a result the hospital achieved an overall ‘Good’ rating.
The full report highlights many areas of positive practice, including:
- Staff treated service users with compassion and kindness. They understood the individual needs of service users and supported them to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition.
- Service users said they were involved in their care decisions.
- Service users said that they really enjoyed the variety of activities available.
- Staff assessed and managed risks to service users and themselves well and followed best practice in anticipating, de-escalating and managing challenging behaviour.
- Care plans were holistic and included detailed inputs from other members of the multidisciplinary team.
- Staff provided a range of treatment and care for patients based on national guidance and best practice. They ensured that service users had good access to physical healthcare and supported them to live healthier lives.
- Staff from different disciplines worked together as a team to benefit service users. They supported each other to make sure service users had no gaps in their care.
- The design, layout, and furnishings of the ward supported service users’ treatment and dignity.
- Service users spoke positively of staff and felt they were respectful, polite and caring.
Simba Kaseke, Hospital Manager, said, “To go from a position where we were rated as Requires Improvement to Good in under nine months is a fantastic achievement and reflects the dedication and commitment of all the team here to improve the service and do our very best for all our service users.
“There is national recognition of an increasing demand for mental health acute services, and we are pleased to say that since the inspection, we have also been able to open a new ward that is providing specialist support to six women who are in the later stages of their care and are now planning their discharge out of the hospital.
“As the report highlights, we place great emphasis on making sure service users and their relatives and carers are involved in care decisions, and on creating a safe and secure environment that from the point of admission, actively works towards supporting people to return to the community.”