Fallings Heath

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 good. At this assessment the rating has remained 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. The provider told us how managers worked with staff to understand closed cultures and ensure people lived in a safe and caring environment with a transparent approach when things went wrong. Staff received training in understanding the needs of the people they supported. Staff told us this helped shape the way they supported people and developed peoples care and support plans. Staff told us there was a positive culture at the home. The registered manager told us they were confident staff provided good quality care and support and encouraged a positive culture amongst staff through regular engagement.

The provider had inclusive leaders at all levels who had the skills, knowledge, experience and credibility to lead effectively. They did so with integrity, openness and honesty. There was a registered manager in post who had responsibility for managing the home. The registered manager understood their responsibilities to ensure the home was managed in line with best practice and the regulations. Staff were positive about the relationship they had with the registered manager. A staff member told us, “The registered manager is approachable I could raise anything with them, we have a deputy as well and they are also accessible to us to raise anything.” Another staff member said, “We are like family here, we all get along well and can speak with the registered manager anytime.” The provider had a vision for their services which put the customer at the centre of everything they do, working as a whole team, being supportive, having a social purpose and being ambitious. The vision was understood by the registered manager and was developed through consultation with staff across the organisation.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. There was a policy in place to support staff with speaking up if they had any concerns. Staff were aware of the policy and could describe how they would raise concerns if they needed to. A staff member told us, “There is a whistleblowing policy in place and there are posters telling us about this. I would intervene if I saw anything worrying and would have no concerns over raising things for investigation.”

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. The provider told us there was a focus on equality and inclusion. The equality and diversity policy in place ensured all staff and potential staff were treated equally and fairly with an approach which is free from any form of discrimination and considers protected characteristics referencing reasonable adjustments being in place to support staff. Staff told us the provider was fair and supportive. All staff we spoke with said they felt the organisation valued their contribution.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. The registered manager told us they had systems in place to maintain oversight of the service; records we saw supported this. There was a system in place to track notifications and ensure statutory requirements were met. Audits were carried out to ensure people received the care and support they needed. For example, medicines audits and care plan audits were carried out. Other checks were in place such as infection prevention control checks. There was a tracker in place to monitor all safeguarding referrals and DoLS applications.

The provider understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, so services worked seamlessly for people. The registered manager told us they worked in partnership with other agencies when needed to design peoples care and support. We saw there was engagement with other health professionals and social workers in peoples care plans. For example, where needed people had been referred to the speech and language therapy team to get advice on how to support people safely with their food and drinks.

The provider focused on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. The provider offered learning opportunities to staff. Staff told us they had access to a range of training courses which they felt enabled them to develop. We saw staff had access to multiple levels of courses, some were mandatory, others were dependent on staff role. The training was varied and offered specific courses to support staff with caring for people with a learning disability. The provider had a learning process in place. The registered manager told us they shared information with staff following the review of incidents. We saw learning logs which identified learning and staff meeting minutes which showed how these were shared. The provider also had an overarching learning log where learning was shared at provider level across all organisations. This log included learning about safeguarding, complaints, data protection and learning from national incidents in the care sector.