Westfield 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 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 very clear shared vision, strategy and culture. This was based on transparency, equity, equality and human rights, diversity and inclusion, engagement, and an exceptional understanding of the challenges and the needs of people and their communities. Westfield House followed the provider’s values of live your life for everyone we support, always striving to put people first, being supportive, acting with integrity, striving for excellence and being positive. This ensured best practice was followed and a positive culture was embedded through training, supervision sessions, personal development reviews and staff meetings. There was a clear and concise structure of communication from senior leaders, the provider’s quality team, commissioners and local authorities. All information was cascaded to staff via a dedicated blog from leaders, flash meetings, handovers, team meetings and 1-1 supervisions sessions. Staff and leaders supported people to achieve positive outcomes in their lives promote independence and set and achieve their goals. People were involved in ’Our Voice’ meetings which had been expanded to a regional level, where people had the opportunity to attend a regional meeting with the operations director to put forward new ideas and celebrate successes. Staff meetings discussed the culture of the home and, where needed, issues around the culture were addressed. The staff handbook included the provider’s vision and values of striving for excellence, being positive, putting people first, acting with integrity and being supportive.

The provider 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. The registered manager was supported by the operations director who completed a quarterly quality walk around audit at the service and all actions arising were promptly addressed and tracked through the governance processes. Westfield House had been assigned a clinical lead which had proven to be a great success in partnership working. This gave the service access to a fortnightly ward round with the GP, giving staff and leaders the opportunity to discuss any concerns or issues relating to people’s health and well-being. Staff told us leaders were supportive and approachable. One staff member said, “Our [registered] manager is fair and approachable. [Registered manager] has an ‘open door’ policy and over the years has been there for me. [Registered manager] is always ready to listen and has good rapport with both staff and service users.”

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard. The provider had a whistle blowing policy and staff felt comfortable raising concerns. One staff member said, “Any concerns I have raised have been listened to and things have been dealt with. The manager will always feedback outcomes of any issues. We have a staff suggestion box in the office.” Another staff member said, “We can discuss any concerns in supervisions We have a dedicated ‘speaking up’ champion, and we can access a ’Your Say’ forum representative. We receive an employee engagement survey where we can speak up anonymously and can access many policies that allow us to raise concerns formally.”

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. All site leaders attended an unconscious bias workshop to help highlight and address any unconscious practices. Leaders had implemented a new recruitment process using an external agency to promote impartiality and fairness in the recruitment process. This system used blind screening techniques and standardised evaluation criteria to minimise unconscious bias and ensure candidates were assessed solely on their qualifications, skills, and experience. This had helped the provider identify top talent more objectively, fostering a more diverse and inclusive workforce. To enhance inclusion and diversity within the service, and to ensure staff members felt connected and informed, each team member had been provided with company emails, granting them access to a wide range of communication channels through the provider intranet. This enabled everyone to stay updated and well informed. The service had an our ‘heritage awareness event’ which celebrated diversity through different activities which took place such as Nigerian cooking and dressing in cultural heritage clothing.

The provider had clear responsibilities, roles, systems of accountability and good governance. They used these to manage and deliver good quality, sustainable care, treatment and support. They acted on the best information about risk, performance and outcomes, and shared this securely with others when appropriate. Audits and quality walk rounds take place on a regular basis and included things such as the environment, Infection control, medication, meaningful activities, safeguarding, health and safety; finance and colleague walk around. Any issues identified were quickly addressed.

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. External professionals were complimentary about the service, and staff and leaders worked in partnership with them. One external professional said, “Staff are always friendly, willing to help and appear caring for their service users with good therapeutic relationships. They also appear to have good relationships with service user's families.” Staff and leaders also made sure people had the opportunity to develop links with the community. People attended the local drama group, gym and other facilities.

The provider 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 had recently been involved in some improvements at the service such as decoration of communal lounges and the provision of new furniture. People had been involved in choosing the colour scheme and design of the furniture.