- SERVICE PROVIDER
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
This is an organisation that runs the health and social care services we inspect
Assessment report published 25 June 2026
Contents
Ratings - Community health services for adults
Our view of the service
We carried an announced inspection of community health services for adults at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) on the 23 to 25 February 2026, as part of our continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services.
We visited Brighouse Health Centre, Allan House, Broad Street Plaza and Dean Clough Mills, which are community bases and sit within the location of Huddersfield Royal Infirmary (Trust headquarters). Within the sites we inspected the services below: -
- District nursing services at Brighouse Health Centre, Allan House and Dean Clough Mills in Halifax
- Cardiac rehabilitation service
- Parkinsons disease service
- Self-administration of medicines service
- Speech and language therapy team (SALT)
- Tissue viability nursing team
- Hospital at Home nursing team
- Bladder and bowel service
- Quest for quality in care homes service - Matrons.
- Respiratory service
During the inspection CQC Inspectors and specialist advisers reviewed patients’ care and treatment records. We attended 21 home visits with district nurses and respiratory nurses, including observing medication administration. We carried out health and safety checks of the environment at each site we visited. Handover meetings were observed, including a patient safer staffing and Band 7 staff meeting. We spoke with 45 staff members, which included the Director of Operations, Associate Director of Nursing and Head of Nursing for Community, Human Resources, Community Matrons, Team Leaders, Community Therapy Team, District Nurses, Nurse Specialists, Healthcare Assistants, Telephone Adviser and Non-clinical Staff.
We previously inspected community health services for adults in March 2016. We rated the effective key question as requires improvement. This was due to a lack of comprehensive performance data, the absence of standardised guidance for staff, and inconsistent access to clinical supervision. The safe, caring, responsive and well led key questions were rated as good. Our overall rating was good.
Following this inspection, our rating for effective has improved, and is now good. At our last inspection, we rated the safe, caring, responsive and well led key questions as good. At this inspection, the ratings remain the same. The overall rating remains good.
Safe
Staff felt safe to raise concerns. Incidents were investigated, and people were protected through effective risk management. Facilities and equipment were clean, well-maintained, and met service needs. Managers mostly ensured staff received regular training and appraisals to support high-quality care. Systems were in place to identify and respond to any safeguarding concern. However, further work was required to embed the new supervision guidance.
Effective
Staff ensured care and treatment was evidence-based and aligned with best practice. They worked collaboratively across agencies to support positive outcomes and smooth transitions of patients between services. Staff ensured patients understood their care and treatment, enabling informed consent.
Caring
Patients feedback demonstrated they were treated with respect. Staff supported individual preferences and helped patients have a choice in their care. Privacy was protected, and staff wellbeing was actively supported.
Responsive
The community health services for adults monitored patients’ specific needs and responded with specific services, care and treatment. The services had ensured staff understood the diverse health and care needs of patients and their local communities, so care was joined-up, flexible and supported choice and continuity.
Well led
Leadership was visible, knowledgeable, and supportive. Staff felt safe to give feedback. Roles and responsibilities were well understood. Managers engaged with the local community to improve care and welcomed innovation. Leaders used reliable data on risk, performance, and outcomes. Governance processes were mostly well-established, with accessible policies and procedures. The leaders demonstrated they had a commitment to improvement and innovation.
People's experience of this service
The Friends and Family survey (FFT) from the previous 12 months showed 96% positive feedback. 2,118 patient comments were received and 2,068 were positive. Feedback highlighted consistently kind, compassionate and caring staff, with clear communication and thorough explanations. People felt listened to, reassured and understood, and described receiving high‑quality, personalised care. They reported improved mobility, confidence and ability to self‑manage, alongside a reliable and seamless care experience.
When the service responded to feedback, they used the method ‘you said we have’. For example, patients had stated it was harder at Broad Street when there was no receptionist, in response the trust brought in bank staff to ensure receptionist presence 5 days a week.
In addition, the community division had gathered specific patient feedback on health literacy and long covid, which had identified both positive feedback and areas where further work was required. For example, where patients with long covid had attended a course, they shared that the long covid course was “life changing”; they no longer felt invisible and were listened to.
The community healthcare division had contributed to improving the lived patient experience of healthcare, through the trust’s digital patient story program. Digital stories were voice recordings which were put together, and overlaid with images (art or photos), to create a short film (usually less than 3 minutes long). The stories supported organisational learning and improvements across the division.
The trust had recently implemented an integrated patient and carer experience partnership’ group in each of the geographies where services were provided. This provided patient representatives a voice in the development of services and involvement in staff recruitment.