Cygnet Hospital Wyke

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

At our last assessment we rated this key question requires improvement. Following this assessment the rating has changed to good.

Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness. They respected patients’ privacy and dignity.

Staff understood the individual needs of patients and supported patients to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition.

Staff involved patients in care planning and risk assessment and actively sought their feedback on the quality of care provided. Staff informed and involved families and carers appropriately.

Staff told us they were supported by their managers. Managers genuinely cared about staff and the provider had a wealth of systems and facilities in place that staff could access to support their health and wellbeing.

This service scored 80 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

Patients and carers who spoke with us said staff were kind, polite, respectful and supportive towards them. They said staff took time to listen to them and understood their needs.

Staff who spoke with us were aware of the needs of their patients.



Staff told us that they worked hard to build therapeutic relationships with their patients.



Staff told us that they felt the hospital manager had also worked hard to gain the trust of the staff team. We were also told that the teams work closely and well together; looking after one another so they can best support their patients.



Staff told us that patients could have visitors, and they would ensure they had access to privacy during the visit. The visits could take place in an available room on the ward or off the ward.

Feedback from the local authority stated "As a team, we feel the ward rounds are informative and take into account input from patients relating to their goals and plans. “I felt the ward were clear with the client present on proposed treatment plans, expected duration of stay and took their wishes into consideration along with my concerns and advice”.

Throughout our inspection, we saw staff interacting with patients in a kind and supportive way.



We saw care plans that showed staff had gained consent for information to be shared and included patient’s wishes and likes or dislikes recorded.



Staff offered patients a private space to talk when required.

Patients told us that they had copies of their care plans, and they were written in a way that made sense to them.

Interpreters were available should a patient require one.



There was an off-ward multi-faith room available to all patients and visitors.



Faith leaders visited the ward. Imams visited Muslim patients and Christian clergymen visited to deliver communion services.



The kitchen offered a menu that catered for cultural needs, such as a Halal menu.



A patient on one ward was unable to read or write so the team arranged for a tutor to come in and for Dyslexic screening to be arranged.



There was a range of activities, and we saw evidence of this via activities timetables on patient noticeboards on the wards. Staff based activity types on current energy levels on the wards.



The social worker team told us that they contacted all patients’ family and signposted them to the family advocacy service. They also included them in all aspects of a patient’s care so long as consent had been given.

Display boards were evident in communal areas to display activities on a daily and weekly basis.



During our visit we saw patients leaving the ward area to undertake social activities both within the hospital grounds and the community.

We saw clear and detailed care plans and records for 11 patients. All records contained evidence of discussions between patients and staff detailing patient’s wishes and preferences.



Consent to share information was clearly documented in patients records.



Regular meetings took place for patients where they could request specific activities to engage in.

The multidisciplinary team invited family and carers, where consent had been given, to attend meetings so information sharing could be undertaken.

Patients told us they could talk to staff when they needed to, which helped with their wellbeing.



Patients also told us that staff are informative, and they feel comfortable with their care and treatment.

Staff told us that the treatment model is prescribed therapy for patients based on current need.



We were told that external professionals, such as an IMCA, could attend the ward within 24 to 48 hours should they be required.



Meetings arranged face to face, to aid with communication, for patients whose first language is not English. Interpreters, advocacy, easy-read information and the involvement of family and friends is also available to utilise by patients on each ward.



The social worker team told us that they liaise with commissioners for additional funding should patients’ families find the distance an issue when visiting family members on the ward.



Staff told us that each patient has access to activities, giving examples such as, pool, dominoes, movie nights, gym and men's group.

During our onsite assessment, we saw staff support and encourage patients to make telephone calls to the people who were important to them.



Display posters on wards detailed activities offered to patients.

The occupational health team devised therapeutic activities following discussions with patients and staff on the wards. We saw activities timetables on patient noticeboards on the wards and care records evidenced staff provided individualised activities in addition to these.



Patients care plans included the patient's choices and preferences, allowing for activities to be arranged accordingly.



Initiatives that patients had been involved in included:

• working in the hospital shop

• helping to design a 'social hub', selecting items like televisions, games consoles, arcade machines, furniture and lighting to be included in the room

• delivering mindfulness and relaxation groups which had been devised in co-creation with staff and patients

• interviewing staff each month for inclusion in a psychology newsletter

• sitting on an interview panel for an occupation therapist assistant post and,

• delivering a co-produced therapy group, 'Cheer Me Up' which included weekly therapy sessions for men, with the aim of improving their mood and managing their symptoms of depression.

Patients that we spoke with told us that there were staff available if they needed them and they felt listened to and their wishes were taken into consideration.

Staff told us that they would use verbal de-escalation in any first instance, and this would often be used to good effect.



Staff told us they carried personal alarms and would use these to request urgent support from colleagues to aid a patient who needed urgent help.

The seclusion room was safe and offered appropriate viewing areas whilst offering dignity and privacy for the user. The area also offered a calm outside space for patients spending time in the seclusion area.



We saw staff members undertaking observation checks accordingly on each of the wards that we visited.



We saw staff members undertaken safe de-escalation of emotive situations.

We saw clear and detailed risk assessments in place for staff to follow should a patient require urgent help.



There was a restraint policy and process in place on all wards.



There was a process to follow when a patient required the use of seclusion.

There were observation processes and guidance in place on all wards.



Any urgently required support was documented accordingly and reported in line with organisational policy and procedures.

The hospital manager told us that staff members had access to reflexology appointments should they wish to sign up to them.



Staff told us that they felt listened to and supported by their managers and senior managers to undertake their roles.



Staff told us they felt proud to work for the service.



Staff told us that morale was now good, adding, "If you had asked me 6 months ago that would have been a different answer".



Staff voiced that management recognise successes and feedback on this. Staff further added they felt this improved moral and workplace wellbeing.

Staff had access to regular management support and clinical supervision.



They had access to occupational health, an employee assistance programme, psychology and mindfulness sessions.



There were systems and processes in place to support staff with their health and wellbeing. There were mental health first aiders within the service to encourage staff who might be having a difficult time to talk to a colleague. Staff had access to Trauma Risk Management (TRIM), a peer support system to help staff who had experienced a traumatic or potentially traumatic event in the workplace.

Another peer support system was Sustaining Resilience at Work (StRAW), designed to help detect and prevent occupational mental health issues and boost psychological resilience.

The provider's human resources team operated drop-in clinics every 3 months where staff could raise any concerns or ask any questions.

There were fortnightly physiotherapy, reflexology and head massage appointments on site that were available to all staff .

There was a staff relations group which enabled staff to get together and discuss ways of improving their working environment. They fed back their ideas and opinions to the hospital manager who, in turn, advise on what could or could not be done. Actions that have come out of this group included a revamp of the staff room including painting, blinds fitted, chairs replaced and a service of the air-conditioning system on the wards.

Staff also had access to a range of benefits such as discount schemes, medical costs and gym memberships.

A staff engagement and wellbeing lead had been appointed. The key areas of focus of this role were to support the staff relations group function, evaluate the TRIM and mental health first aider functions, and to get actively meet staff and visit services.

Staff had access to free sanitary products as managers were aware of issues relating to period poverty. Staff also had access to free meals and car parking.