Psychiatry-UK

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

The leadership had the right skills and experience to run the service.

Managers supported in their roles by the senior leadership team. They felt that they could share new ideas and leaders supported their career growth and development.

The organisation had a good culture and staff spoke positively of their leaders. The provider was working to continually improve the culture of the organisation. For example, they organised staff roadshows across their services to talk about organisation’s values. There was a private feedback session where staff could message the CEO directly. Staff were recognised for their achievements and hard work and this was shared in organisation wide meetings.

The senior management team engaged well with staff. For example, the senior leadership team held staff focus groups in 2024 to ask what benefits staff wanted to see. Following feedback from staff, the senior leaders have introduced a new strategy for staff to cope with the increase in demand and workload.

Risk management, quality assurance and clinical governance systems were robust and met the needs of the service, young people and staff.

This service scored 64 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were proud to work for the service.

The service focused on the needs of children and young people and improving people’s experience. Staff were passionate about achieving positive outcomes for people and spoke enthusiastically about the direction of the organisation.

Staff were engaged in conversations about the 'climate we create', and what this meant to them. Staff were invited to regular 'town hall' meetings, where everyone could meet together virtually.

The provider organised a roadshow in 2024 which included sessions on what the organisation's values meant to staff, what worked well and areas they could improve on. The senior leadership team met around 200 staff members across the UK in groups. The organisational values were built into the appraisal system.

The provider had introduced an applicant tracking system to help manage their recruitment drive. The provider had created two additional roles for a talent acquisition lead and an internal communications and engagement lead.

The provider reported that sickness rate for junior staff was high in the past. However, the provider had introduced an improved benefits system and holiday entitlements which had a positive impact on sickness rates. There was an occupational health team that supported staff back into work.

Managers made sure there were reasonable adjustments in place for neurodiverse employees.

Performance management was undertaken directly with the contracted employees. The medical secretary informed the management team if there were any issues and escalated to the relevant clinical team.

We did not look at Freedom to speak up during this assessment. There is no previous rating for the Well-led key question so we cannot yet publish a score for this area.

The senior leadership team developed a 'no blame' culture for complaints and incidents.

All cases of bullying or harassment in the workplace were referred to the HR department for investigation and resolution.

Staff had the opportunity to speak up. The organisational business model meant there was a HR person aligned to each management team. Staff were able to access an employee support programme if needed.

Staff told us they could raise concerns and were encouraged to do so. They had confidence that these would be addressed.

There was an anonymous platform - Your Voice - used to speak up. Supporting people in the workforce was part of the organisation's strategy.

Leaders were knowledgeable about issues and priorities relating to the quality and future of the service. The service held regular governance and business meetings which addressed matters to the running of the service.

The senior leadership team attended Board, executive meetings and audit meetings. The provider had shared office space in London where the executive team met once a month in person.

Staff told us leaders were visible and approachable. Senior staff worked closely with all staff to ensure a good quality service.

There was a clear vision and a strong set of embedded organisational values. The aims of the service were outlined within policies and procedures. The long-term goal was to work with health care partners such as the NHS to reduce waiting list for Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder assessments.

The service developed its vision, values and strategy jointly with staff.

The service had expanded rapidly and many of the concerns from people who use the service centred on the long waiting times for assessment appointments. The service had demonstrated a dramatic reduction in waiting times for children’s ADHD and ASD assessments and had room for growth in this area.

The organisation worked with the London business school around a research programme in 2024. The provider held a training contract with St George's Hospital around specialist interest sessions, where a clinician ran 6-8 sessions.

The provider encouraged people including the public, young people, staff and external partners to give feedback about the service. The provider acted on the feedback to improve the service.

The provider procured NHS contracts. As part of the contract delivery, they were required to liaise regularly with GPs and report on performance and quality of their services. The provider held meetings with the respective ICS’s monthly.

The provider had introduced a new incident reporting system. All staff were trained to report incidents via the new system. The system graded the severity of the incident. Clinical leads and the patient safety manager held weekly Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) meetings. Incidents were reported up to the Board. The new incident reporting system enabled wider learning from the NHS database. This system was linked to the NHS spine so staff could monitor incidents from young people on the waiting list.

The service had processes to manage current and future performance. Leaders had oversight of safety alerts, incidents and complaints.