Ardour Healthcare Services Ltd

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.

This is the first assessment for this service. This key question has been rated 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 provider 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.

Leaders promoted shared vision and strategy for a service that is compassionate and caring. The registered manager had built strong relationships of trust both with staff and people using the service. Feedback from people using the service, relatives and staff all echoed that the registered manager was a very compassionate and empathetic leader.

Staff understood equality, diversity and human rights, and prioritised safe, high-quality, compassionate care. Staff knew Ardour Healthcare Services Ltd values and told us there was a culture of treating people with respect and dignity.

The provider 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 experienced and modelled inclusive behaviour. They worked well together to ensure that the organisational vision of good quality care could be delivered. Care staff spoke highly about the leaders. Comments included, "The registered manager is so kind. They take the time to listen to and really understand the concerns of literally anyone who talks to them.”

There was safe, effective and inclusive recruitment processes that promoted high-quality leadership.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

Staff told us they felt confident to raise concerns, both internally and externally. Staff had the opportunity to speak up and share their feedback, good or bad because the company had an open-door policy and one of the leaders were always available to speak to. Staff could also share their views anonymously, for example in the staff surveys. Staff told us their feedback requiring actions was acted upon accordingly.

The provider valued diversity in their workforce. They worked towards an inclusive and fair culture by improving equality and equity for people who worked for them.

Leaders told us that staff were representative of the population of people using the service. They continually reviewed the culture of the organisation in the context of equality, diversity and inclusion. Staff told us the culture of the service was fair and inclusive, and they shared no concerns about discrimination.

Leaders told us that reasonable adjustments were made to support staff to carry out their role well, for example changes to working hours for staff who had childcare responsibilities. Staff told us they felt confident to share their ideas to create a more inclusive organisation.

The provider was aware of legislation relevant to workforce equality, diversity and inclusion, for example The Equality Act. The provider's own policies, including the equality and diversity were in line with the legislation.

The provider 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 acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate.

Staff were aware of their roles and responsibilities and knew what was expected of them. Leaders gave us examples of how they took accountability for performance of staff, for example when additional support was required. The leaders understood their responsibility to share information and submit notifications to external agencies, including the local authority and CQC.

There were systems in place to assure leaders that the care and support provided to people was of high standard, for example a range of audits.

Audits and quality assurance tools were effective in identifying areas for improvements. When areas for improvements were identified leaders either actioned them immediately or made an action plan to address it as quickly as reasonably possible. There was a clear governance structure in place that all staff were aware of.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. They shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

The registered manager told us how they worked with partners and the community to improve people’s quality of life, both for the people they support and beyond.

The provider collaborated with other professionals to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people using their service. For example, making referrals to external health and social care professionals. .

The provider 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 contributed to safe, effective practice and research.

The service provided a robust induction and training programme. Staff were encouraged to reflect and feedback on their learning. Through feedback, several training courses were switched from online to face to face training to provide staff with the most accessible and valuable form of learning.

The digital governance system used by the service alerted the manager as to when any staff were due for refreshment training to ensure any courses were booked ahead of time and staff were made aware of training arrangements to make any preparations required. There was a continuous improvement plan in place, where any ongoing actions could be monitored and updated over time, to ensure the service continuously tracked actions and learning, this included actions pulled from all other audits on the digital governance system.