Sherwood

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.

This is the first assessment for this service under this provider. This key question has been rated Outstanding. This meant service leadership was exceptional and distinctive. Leaders and the culture they created drove and improved high-quality, person-centred care.

This service scored 89 (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 values for Sherwood were based on ‘Extraordinary days, every day’. The focus of this was to ensure they achieved their vision, which was, 'a world where there is equal opportunity for individuals to live independently and make their own decisions’. We saw the management and staff team fully embraced the vision and values of the organisation and understood the importance of promoting independence and ensuring people were able to self-direct their care where they could.

The service was led by an experienced, motivated and committed management team, supported by a staff team who strived to deliver the best person-centred care they could. The service understood the importance of ensuring effective collaboration with people and external partners, to ensure a fully wrap-around approach to support. The management team ensured they had robust auditing and reviewing processes in place, to ensure a culture of continual improvement of the service.

The provider had exceptionally 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 always did so with integrity, openness and honesty.

People told us the management and staff team were understanding, available and approachable. People told us they had positive and warm relationships with the management and staff team. One person said, “I feel I have a really good relationship with the manager and staff at the home.”

The provider had recognised the progression and achievements of both the registered manager and deputy manager in their internal annual awards. The registered manager had been awarded ‘manager of the year’ and the deputy, ‘outstanding achievement’ of the year for 2025 and 2024 respectively. The deputy manager was very humble regarding these awards, saying, “It is not just about me, or our manager, this reflects on all of us, we have a whole service approach.” This acknowledgement by the provider allowed the management team to share their experiences and excellence in practice across the providers portfolio. This supported improvements in practice, quality and outcomes for people beyond Sherwood.

Staff were consistently recognised for their achievements by the provider. The provider issued monthly awards for staff, for attendance, training compliance and for ‘going the extra mile’. This allowed the staff team to feel valued in their work and acknowledged for their achievements.

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

The service operated an open-door policy, which ensured people and those who were important to them, could share their views and be heard. Staff understood the freedom to speak up policy in place for the provider, and their responsibility to follow this. This reduced the risk of any potential closed culture at the service.

There were opportunities for people who used the service and their representatives to share their views about the quality of the service provided. People told us there were regular meetings at the service that the management team and staff attended. Surveys were completed regularly, with people, relatives, staff and other stakeholders to gather feedback about the quality of the service provided. The feedback from these was used to consistently improve the service.

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 service celebrated and championed their diverse workforce. The provider employed staff from the local area as well as from overseas. The staff team were from varied backgrounds and cultures, and this was reflected in the skills and experience they brought to their roles. One staff member said, “My professional qualification is in learning disabilities and Autistic people. This is my absolute passion. We are completely focussed on our residents. This is their home.”

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.

The management team understood their responsibility to notify all relevant agencies, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC), when issues had arisen. There were clear governance processes in place. This gave the management team clear oversight of the service, ensuring appropriate actions were taken to prevent recurrence.

The management team had an overarching governance system to ensure that high quality care and support was provided, as part of their approach to continuous improvement. The auditing processes in place were mapped to the CQC regulations, to ensure the service retained full compliance and worked on embedding continual improvements. This was monitored by the provider who also undertook regular quality assurance visits to the service. We saw that any actions identified by the provider were taken in a timely way.

The management team fully understood their regulatory responsibilities and duty of candour. For example, where incidents had occurred, there were robust debrief processes in place. This allowed staff to share their views on what had worked well, or what they feel could be improved.

The provider clearly understood their duty to collaborate and work in partnership, ensuring services worked seamlessly for people. They always shared information and learning with partners and collaborated for improvement.

The management and staff team understood the importance of engaging with external partners, to ensure a fully collaborative and person-centred approach. Each person had regular meetings with external teams who were involved in their care and support. Guidance from these teams was incorporated into people's care plans and followed by the staff team. This ensured people achieved positive outcomes, with strong continuity of care. The staff team showed understanding and empathy when supporting people who may have previously lived in a more secure location. They understood the challenges this can present, as people transition, and offered a wrap-around, therapeutic approach. Staff understood the importance of enabling people to make informed choices about their daily lives. Where people had been unable to make important choices, records contained evidence to show that staff had followed best interest procedures to agree appropriate actions with professionals, relatives and advocates on behalf of the person. A visiting professional gave positive feedback about the skills and approach shown by the staff team. They told us, “Based on my experience of working with Sherwood, the staff consistently communicate with our agency in a timely and appropriate manner.”

The service shared learning by providing placement opportunities for health professionals during their studies. The deputy manager explained how this provided enriched experiences for people and allowed the staff team to learn new skills. We saw multiple thank you cards, shared by staff following placements. One such example was, “I would like to thank you all for the support, encouragement and understanding you have shown me throughout my studies working here. I am grateful to have been part of such a supportive team and with your support, I have been able to grow, both professionally and personally.”

The provider had a strong focus on continuous learning, innovation and improvement across the organisation and local system. They always encouraged creative ways of delivering equality of experience, outcome and quality of life for people. They actively contributed to safe, effective practice.

The management team showed transparency, knowledge and integrity and led the service by example. The staff team were highly skilled and experienced in the specific needs of the service user group. They ensured peoples physical and emotional wellbeing was fully considered, along with individual mental health support needs. The service took a fully holistic approach to individualised care and support.

The deputy manager explained how they shared learning from the service across the providers portfolio. The management team met regularly with management from other services, and used this to share good practice, learning from events and to explore best practice guidance. The deputy manager explained how this had enhanced and improved their own practice, to allow them to embed these processes at Sherwood.

The management team showed a clear and sustained commitment to learning and continual improvement of the service. The service had robust systems in place, for reviewing performance, identifying trends, and acting on lessons learned in a timely and transparent way. Staff were actively involved in shaping improvements and given opportunities to contribute ideas and new ways of working. Each area of the service had an allocated staff lead or leads. This ranged from medicines, equality and diversity, to safeguarding. We saw the leads for each area had sought or provided extra learning for the whole staff team, to support development and progression. One staff member spoke of the constant learning approach of the service, and how constructive criticism and guidance was encouraged. They told us, “We welcome the CQC visit and visits from our commissioners. Sometimes it is easy to miss things, if you are working day to day in a busy service.”