White Pearl House

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.

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. At this assessment the rating has changed to good. This meant the service was generally well managed and well-led. Leaders and the culture they created promoted high-quality care.

This service scored 71 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

The service 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.

Staff spoke about the visions and values of the service. One staff member said, "They want to provide high-quality, person-centred care." The service adopted a positive and open culture which was easy to see during our inspection. Various policies were in place to support an open culture, and the registered manager told us, “Our key achievements are delivering consistently safe, person centred care, building meaningful relationships with people and families, responding quickly to changing needs, and creating a positive culture where staff feel supported and people experience good outcomes, independence and quality of life.”

The service 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.

Staff spoke positively about the registered manager. One staff member said, "Yes (I can raise any concerns with the registered manager). She is very approachable." We found the management team approachable, capable, compassionate and open throughout our inspection, with a focus on ensuring people were enabled to live a good, ordinary life as part of their community.

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

Staff knew how to whistle blow and they felt confident to speak up, should they need to. The provider had a whistleblowing policy available to staff. Staff were able to raise any concerns in team meetings. The registered manager told us, “We protect whistle‑blowers by guaranteeing confidentiality, acting on concerns immediately, and making sure no one is ever treated unfairly for speaking up.” People and their loved ones were able to raise issues should they have any.

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

Staff told us they felt they were treated equally and that the registered manager was approachable and fair to all staff. An equality and diversity policy was in place which set out how they support equality and diversity. The service employed a diverse range of staff.

The service generally had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance in place but in some of these areas minor improvements could be made.

Staff told us they felt the service was well managed. Multiple audits and oversight tools were in place and for the most part they were robust. However, they had failed to identify some of the concerns we have found, as detailed in this report, mainly around medicines, recruitment, an out-of-date fire risk assessment and end of life discussions. The registered manager made the necessary changes to the audits and checks to make sure any further issues in these areas could be addressed.

Board meetings were being held every 3 months and covered areas such as risks and issues, continuous improvement, actions logs and key discussion notes. The registered manager also told us "[The providers] are very good, they are there if I need them. I have end of day calls with both of them to check in and update them on the service. I have my team under me as well if I need someone. I do feel supported." The provider completed monthly audits to ensure appropriate oversight was in place.

We found peoples records were being securely stored in line with GDPR. During our inspection we found any issues we identified were acted upon immediately which offered assurance the registered manager and their team were passionate to provide good, safe care for people.

The service understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services work seamlessly for people. They share information and learning with partners and collaborate for improvement.

Peoples loved ones felt the service engaged with the community. One relative said, "They did do a charity fundraiser for cancer research, so I know they get involved in community things." The registered manager spoke passionately about how they had built links with the local community. They told us, “I have established links with the local councillors. I invited them and the Mayor and Mayoress, who attend a MacMillan Coffee morning held at White Pearl House. I will continue to identify charities involving families, carer, neighbours and local communities that we can raise funds for to maintain community relationships. With the development of the service, staff and continued improvement. I am proud to be the registered manager of White Pearl House."

We saw examples of the service working with various organisations. People could gain access to advocates when needed.

The service 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.

Leaders ensured the service actively contributed to safe, effective practice as detailed throughout this report. The service had put together an action plan to address the short falls identified at the last inspection and clear improvements had been made in multiple areas.

The registered manager told us how they drove improvement. They said, “We learn from accidents, incidents, safeguarding concerns, and complaints through a consistent review process where each event is recorded, analysed to understand what went wrong, and discussed in team meetings and supervision. Any learning leads to clear action plans with named responsibilities and deadlines, and these are monitored through our governance system to ensure changes are embedded and improvements are sustained.”