Page 6 - Calderstone AR 2015

06 Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Yearbook 2014 - 2015
Chief Executive’s Summary
The Care Quality Commission reported similar findings being clear that service users say they feel safe and are cared for with dignity and compassion in a positive and open culture. You can’t easily fix things like that if they aren’t right, so it is tribute to high quality staff and the vocation at the heart of our NHS values. As we move forward and as the health economy changes, it’s important to really value the resilience of staff and the support we all have for our service users.
The year has also seen the Trust receive a Gold Star from the Triangle of Care, demonstrating very publically our partnership with family members and our commitment to working with them. It has been one of the pleasures of the past twelve months for me to attend meetings of our Carers Group, including two special Saturday sessions, to meet family members and hear their experiences directly. One of my most unusual challenges was knowing how to respond to an impassioned carer, outspoken in his views and absolutely focussed on his family member’s needs, looking me in the eye in a public meeting and saying, very directly, to me: “Mark, your problem is that sometimes you don’t appreciate how much we value the work that Calderstones does.” Praise is often hard to take! But that carer is right – excellent work is delivered
here, as the Gold Star attests, and
we should celebrate it more.
The Trust has made some notable achievements and successes during the year. The results of the recent NHS staff survey puts Calderstones right at the top – or very close to it – on a number of important areas.
During the year, we invested significantly in developing much improved accommodation for people in enhanced support and step down services. This saw the closure of inefficient and outdated estate (Chestnut Drive) and the opening
of the newly refurbished excellent accommodation on our West Drive location.
Our kitchens have been given the council’s highest rating for hygiene, staff have achieved awards, service users continue to attain vocational and other course certificates from external assessors and much, much more. It’s heartening to hear and I am absolutely proud of them all.
The year has also been about us coming to terms with the wider issues of learning disability support and the particular concerns of our inspectors. Various national policy documents and guidance have been published and much attention has been placed upon us.
The Bubb Report noted that during the previous 12 months there had been 41% more admissions to inpatient facilities than discharges. This report called for a closure programme of inappropriate institutional inpatient facilities. The NHS has responded by setting up a reconfiguration taskforce to provide intensive support to accelerate change in the north.
In March, the Department of Health published a Green Paper for people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health conditions - No Voice Unheard, No Right Ignored - and our carers have made it clear that they want to be part of that consultation.
The direction of travel for learning disability provision is to transfer people to settings outside of the hospital where at all possible. Commissioners are tasked with developing alternative services so people with learning disabilities can be cared for in more community based settings. We are no longer taking admissions for individual packages of care and the enhanced support service.