Highams Lodge

This means we looked for evidence that people’s care, treatment and support achieved good outcomes and promoted a good quality of life, based on best available evidence. At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people experienced positive outcomes overall, and feedback from people confirmed they benefited from the support provided.

People’s needs were assessed prior to admission, and staff demonstrated a clear understanding of trauma, psychological distress and relational approaches. This supported the development of therapeutic relationships and helped people to engage with the service.

The service delivered a range of therapeutic interventions aligned with its clinical model. People described benefiting from therapy, including improvements in emotional regulation and reductions in self-harm. Staff worked collaboratively and liaised with external services to support continuity of care when needs increased. The service supported people to access physical healthcare and undertook reviews to consider goals, progress and development.

However, some aspects of assessment and monitoring were not always applied in a structured or consistent way. Records did not always capture all relevant information, including trauma history and substance use, which reduced clarity in some areas of care planning and limited the ability to anticipate changes in need.

The service did not always review or adapt therapeutic input where engagement reduced. This meant that some people experienced gaps in therapy, which could affect continuity in their recovery.

Care information was not always organised or accessible, which at times made it harder for staff to coordinate care effectively. Systems to monitor physical health and outcomes were in place, but these were not always recorded or used in a consistent way to demonstrate progress over time. The service did not use structured outcome tools to evidence outcomes consistently, which limited its ability to evidence outcomes in a systematic and comparable way.