The Central London Community Healthcare (CLCH) NHS Trust has been rated Good overall by the Care Quality Commission.
The trust was rated Good in all areas: for being well-led; safe; effective; caring and responsive, following the inspection which took place during September and October 2017.
CQC inspected four of the seven core services provided by the trust. These were:
- Community end of life care rated Requires Improvement at the last inspection in April 2015.
- Community health services for adults.
- Community health services for children and young people.
- Community health inpatient services.
Inspectors found the trust had managers at all levels with the right skills and abilities to run a service providing high-quality sustainable care.
The trust had a vision for what it wanted to achieve and workable plans to turn it into action developed with involvement from staff, patients, and key groups representing the local community.
Managers across the trust promoted a positive culture that supported and valued staff, creating a sense of common purpose based on shared values.
The trust used a systematic approach to continually improve the quality of its services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care would flourish.
CLCH had effective systems for identifying risks, planning to eliminate or reduce them, and coping with both the expected and unexpected.
The trust engaged well with patients, staff, the public and local organisations to plan and manage appropriate services, and collaborated with partner organisations effectively.
The trust was committed to improving services by learning from when things go well and when they go wrong, promoting training, research and innovation.
CQC found examples of some outstanding practice including:
It allowed junior staff members and patients to actively engage with the trust’s governance procedures.
The Homeless Health Team worked with the increasing homeless populations in Westminster. The team offered a nursing service within clinics and on the streets to engage and promote health and access to services for vulnerable adults. The team also worked with podiatry and dental services to actively deliver care.
The tissue viability team and pressure ulcer staff were passionate and enthusiastic about their work, using different technologies available. The group were highly motivated to teach others about prevention, care and treatment of pressure ulcers.
CLCH was the first provider to go live with e-Redbook and immunisation data flow. e-Redbook is the digital version of the Personal Child Health Record (PCHR) known as the 'Redbook', which was given to all new parents in the UK to manage the health and development of their child in partnership with health professionals. On the eRedbook, parents will be able to store and access all of their child's health information through smartphones, tablets and computers.
A monthly quality council allowed staff and patients to contribute ideas to improve services. Ideas pitched here were sent out to teams across the trust to see if anyone wanted to pilot them, with a view to wider trust distribution if successful.
Inspectors did not find any breaches of regulations that the trust must put right.
Professor Ted Baker, England’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals said: “We found examples of outstanding practice in community health services for adults, community health services for children, young people and families, community health inpatient services and community end of life care.
“Managers across the trust promoted a positive culture that supported and valued staff, creating a sense of common purpose based on shared values. The trust had recognised issues raised in the staff survey and had taken action to address cultural issues.
“The trust engaged well with patients, staff, the public and local organisations to plan and manage appropriate services, and collaborated with partner organisations effectively.”
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We found examples of outstanding practice.
Professor Ted Baker, Chief Inspector of Hospitals