Woodhall 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.

The service is not scored or rated.

Find out what we look at when we assess this area in our information about our new Single assessment framework.

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 strategy and vision that was driven by ‘Investing in youth’.
They told us that the most important person was the child and they strove never to lose sight of this.

We saw that staff had the knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the children. Communication in the organisation was good, and there was a structure that worked well. Leaders were visible and we saw evidence of strong collaborative working. Leaders told us that the views and expertise of all team members were valued and respected and staff we spoke with at the assessment corroborated this.

The provider fostered an inclusive and open culture. We saw evidence of regular staff surveys, which were analysed by leaders to improve the service. Leaders told us they were actively working on this feedback. A staff reward scheme had been introduced to reflect their commitment to staff.

Staff were proud to work for the organisation and felt that their managers were interested in their career development, and they had access to learning and development to support them effectively in their job.

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.

We saw that there were regular team building sessions for staff at Woodhall House. We saw a presentation that the Registered Manager had recently delivered to colleagues to illustrate the progression made by children living in the home. This presentation demonstrated that progression could look very different for individual children and that all progress was celebrated and acknowledged by leaders and staff. We spoke with one of the children at Woodhall House who stated that they were very happy.

We saw evidence of a process in place for safe recruitment which was overseen by head office. Recruitment of staff was overseen by the Director of Operations to ensure candidates had the skills and knowledge required to work with the children.

Consultant Psychiatrists within Woodhall House were registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Royal College of Psychiatry. As such they had annual appraisals and were subject to the GMC revalidation process. The clinicians attended peer supervision and learning groups with the Royal College of Psychiatry several times per year. These peer groups provided updates on National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and other clinical guidance including prescribing updates, safeguarding supervision and case-based discussions and peer learning. Peers included community and inpatient adolescent and child psychiatrists. Both clinicians regularly attended courses and conferences.

The provider fostered a positive culture where people felt they could speak up and their voice would be heard.

We saw evidence that staff were encouraged to speak up and reviewed minutes of meetings where concerns were discussed with leaders. We also saw staff surveys and that the findings of these were acted upon.

Children told us they felt able to speak up and voice any concerns.

Staff were informed during induction of how to voice concerns and the whistleblowing policy was available to all staff and guided them who to contact in the organisation. Staff had the option to speak to staff they felt comfortable with.

The judgement for Workforce equality, diversity and inclusion is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.

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.

Leaders encouraged and role-model a responsive, open and co-operative culture.

Roles, responsibilities and accountability were clear to staff.

There was robust governance, oversight and reporting mechanisms. For example, the CAMHS Specialist Nurse, who had oversight of medicines management in the home, produced a monthly report that identified any themes from incidents reported. Learning was then shared across the organisation. Safety alerts were also dealt with by the registered nurse.

There was an effective out of hours clinical and operational on-call system. Staff could access senior internal medical support as required.

Health and care staff felt well supported and accessed regular supervision and training. Staff reported being happy working for the organisation.

The registered manager was responsible for workforce planning, including arranging agency staff. There was a process in place to ensure agency staff had the knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the children.

Audit processes were in place to provide assurance on governance, quality assurance and management. This included audits of children’s records and medicines management.

Processes were in place regarding cyber security, data security and protection toolkits were in place. These were overseen by head office.
The Registered Manager demonstrated that they were aware of statutory and regulatory requirements.

The judgement for Partnerships and communities is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Well-led key question.

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.

Innovation -

Leaders had introduced daily morning meetings for all managers. This was in addition to weekly meetings. This helped ensure timely sharing of information and sharing of learning from other homes.

The provider organised in-house training in areas of expertise tailored to young people’s needs.

The organisation were researching Artificial Intelligence and what the implications were for their organisation.

Learning and improvement -

We saw evidence of learning from incidents and complaints. The structure of the children’s care plans was improved and information-sharing and communication processes strengthened as a result.

Care plan multi-disciplinary meetings had also been improved, they now have a set agenda, broader attendance and rotating chair. We saw evidence that the action log was used effectively.

We saw that leaders organised weekly team days to encourage innovation and improvement in the organisation. The agenda included reflective practice and invitations to parents/carers to meet the team via a teams call. The agenda also included case discussions.

In the managers meeting agenda we saw that Directors had raised the discussion of rewarding staff with vouchers in response to feedback from the staff survey. We saw that a member of staff from Woodhall House was one of the winners.