Dignus Support

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 had a vision in place which described wanting to provide high quality care which empowered people to reach their full potential and have the optimum quality of life. Leaders told us their vision was to continue to enhance and support people to achieve their outcomes by growing people individually and supporting staff to be a happy and ensure a healthy workforce. Staff told us they had good support from the management team and felt they had access to good training and development opportunities. Staff also felt confident in the support they received as managers were always accessible to them.

The provider had systems in place to support leaders and ensure they had the knowledge and skills to lead effectively. Staff told us they felt confident in the management team and engaged by leaders in the service. A staff member commented, “The nicest thing is I am never alone, there is an effective team in place, we never feel alone to manage things, someone is always there to help. We work as a team.” Leaders told us there was a strong management team in place which included a range of senior roles who had lead responsibility for key areas of the business. The provider had a registered manager in post to support the service and maintain oversight.

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 in raising concerns and these would be addressed. Staff were aware of the policies and procedures for reporting concerns and could share examples of where they had raised concerns. A staff member told us, “There is a policy in place to speak up if needed and there is information for all staff on how to do this.” Leaders told us they had a freedom to speak up guardian in place. We saw the provider also had a whistleblowing policy for staff which enabled them to speak up if they needed to. The registered manager told us they operated an open-door policy and felt staff would raise concerns with them if needed.

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. Staff told us they felt fully supported by the management team in their role and with personal matters they had raised with the management team. Leaders told us staff could share their views in a range of forums, and they could have a voice in how the company progressed. Team bonding had recently been requested by staff in a recent staff survey, and this was now being planned. There was a policy in place for equality and diversity which set out how the company valued people as individuals and provided a safe and supportive environment for staff with equal opportunity regardless of background, personal identity or circumstance. Staff were aware of the policy in place and had received training in equality and diversity.

The provider had systems in place to ensure good quality care was delivered and actions were taken when things needed to improve. Staff told us there were audit systems in place to ensure people received good quality care. Leaders told us there were a range of systems in place to check on the quality of the service people received. There were regular opportunities for managers across the organisation to receive reports on the audit outcomes, including at board level. The provider had a quality manager in post to undertake quality audits. There was also external review through the local commissioners. We saw checks were in place to ensure staff compliance with training, this had ensured compliance was at 98%. Other audits were in place to review incidents, check people’s medicines were managed safely, and spot checks were completed with staff. There were regular discussions in monthly management meetings about the outcomes from audits and learning was shared with staff.

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. Partners told us the provider collaborated with external stakeholders and conducted themselves in a professionalmanner. Leaders told us they had good relationships with local commissioners and worked in partnership to develop and enhance the service. The provider also had a system in place to seek input from relatives; however, response rates had been low. Relatives felt they worked together with the provider to ensure people had the support they needed.

The provider focused on continuous learning and improvement across the organisation.Staff told us they felt able to share ideas for making improvements to the service and would raise these to the management team in their regular discussions about the service. Leaders told us they worked as part of local and national forums, including Learning Disability England where a person who used the service attended this forum. There were also provider level opportunities to share learning and look at innovation. The registered manager ensured learning was shared with staff and the provider’s other services when incidents occurred.