Cygnet Bury Forestwood

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

This means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question Good. At this assessment the rating has remained Good.

This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Caring.

We always treat people with kindness, empathy and compassion and we respect their privacy and dignity. We treat colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

Staff attitudes and behaviours when interacting with patients showed that they were kind, caring and compassionate, providing patients with help, emotional support and advice at the time they needed it. We carried out an observation of care and saw that staff were discreet, respectful, and responsive when caring young people. We spoke with five young people during the inspection. Four out of five young people said staff treated them well and behaved kindly towards them.

Staff supported children and young people to understand and manage their own care treatment or condition. The young people told us that staff provided regular one to one sessions and increased the frequency if required.

Staff directed children and young people to other services and supported them to access those services if they needed help. There was an onsite school and staff supported the young people to attend and helped them with homework and coursework. Staff also liaised with the young peoples’ education provider from their home community. In one case a young person was supported to complete a GCSE exam whilst being nursed in seclusion.

Staff understood and respected the individual needs of each child or young person and were familiar with their individual needs and care and treatment plans. Staff used hospital passports, PBS plans and communication cards to better understand how to best care to for each young person in a way that most effectively met their needs.

Staff understood the individual needs of patients, including their personal, cultural, social and religious needs. There was a multi faith room on site and recently staff bought a young person a new prayer mat. Spiritual leaders visited the wards and those patients with leave were escorted to access places of worship in the local community.

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. There was an electronic recording system and any paper records were stored securely and then scanned onto the electronic system.

We treat people as individuals and make sure their care, support and treatment meets their needs and preferences, taking account of their strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

The service made adjustments for disabled patients. There were disabled bathrooms on the wards and there was a lift for patients with mobility issues. Staff told us that they used Makaton as a means of communicating with some patients. Makaton is a language system that uses signs, symbols and speech to assist patients with communication.

Staff ensured that patients could obtain relevant information on a variety of topics. We saw that the notice boards on each ward contained information including safeguarding, mental health act, patients’ rights, how to complain and advocacy services.

Staff provided information that was accessible to the patient group. We saw easy read information, picture cards and easy read care plans. Staff made information leaflets available in languages spoken by patients.

Managers told us that they ensured that staff and patients had easy access to interpreters and/or signers.

Patients had a choice of food to meet the dietary requirements of religious and ethnic groups and to account for allergies and intolerances. There was a range of menu options including halal, kosher, vegan and gluten free meals.

Staff ensured that patients had access to appropriate spiritual support. This included access to a multi faith room which we saw during the assessment and support to request that spiritual leaders attended the wards or patients with leave could access external places of worship.

We promote people’s independence, so they know their rights and have choice and control over their own care, treatment. and wellbeing.

Staff read patients’ rights to them in an age appropriate way that they could understand. This was repeated until staff were assured that patients had understood. Staff explored consent to treatment with patients and this was recorded in patient records.

All patients were encouraged to attend their ward rounds and all other meetings relating to their care and treatment. They could request support from the advocacy services to represent their wishes and feelings and carers were invited with the patient’s permission.

There was a range of activities on and off the wards seven days per week. Patients could participate in areas of interest and those with leave could visit the local community, escorted by staff. There was smoking cessation support, a gym and other wellbeing groups such as yoga along with an activities room for art based activities.

We listen to and understand people’s needs, views and wishes. We respond to these in that moment and will act to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

Staff were aware of and dealt with any specific risk issues such as self-harm and care planned for these accordingly. They were aware of certain triggers for patients and worked to support patients when their mental state fluctuated or deteriorated.

Staff identified and responded to changing risks to, or posed by, patients. All patients were risk assessed daily at the morning meeting and observation levels were increased or decreased according to patient’s changing needs.

Staff used de-escalation techniques to reduce the need for physical interventions when patients’ behaviours became heightened. They used a range of methods of de-escalation according to the patient’s PBS plan, including verbal de-escalation and the use of soft words, redirection and conflict resolution strategies.

We care about and promote the wellbeing of our staff, and we support and enable them to always deliver person centred care.

Staff we spoke with said that they felt respected, supported and valued. Staff felt positive and proud about working for the service and their team. They spoke highly of managers and senior leaders and there was a positive culture within the teams. Morale was generally high across all 4 wards.

Staff had access to support for their own physical and emotional health needs through an employee assistance program. The service’s staff sickness and absence had remained stable over the 12 months prior to the assessment and was at 7% in April 2025.

The provider recognised staff success within the service. There were long service awards and monthly characters of care winners on each ward as a way of highlighting good practice amongst the staff.

Staff appraisals included conversations about career development and how it could be supported. Managers had opportunities for further leadership development and training and support workers completed the care certificate and some went on to train as qualified mental health nurses or occupational therapists.