Care Quality Commission News

29 Nov 2022

EMBARGOED: Cheadle specialist service for children and young adults rated outstanding by the Care Quality Commission

Press release embargoed until 00.01hrs on Wednesday 30 November

A link to the embargoed inspection report is at the very end of this email

A care service for children and young adults with a physical or complex learning disability or additional needs has been rated outstanding following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in September.

CQC inspected Seashell Health Service, ran by the Seashell Trust, and found a service where people benefitted from outstanding care.  This was CQC’s first inspection of the service.

Seashell Health Service provides nursing therapy and audiology for students aged from primary school age up to 25 who attend the onsite residential day school and college ran by the Seashell Trust. Seashell Trust is a national learning disability charity that supports children and young adults with complex learning difficulties, disabilities, and additional communication needs from across the UK.

Following the inspection, the service was rated outstanding overall and for being safe, responsive, caring, effective and well-led. 

Debbie Ivanova, CQC’s director for people with learning disabilities and autistic people, said:

“When we inspected Seashell Health Service, we were extremely impressed by the level of support people received and found a service that provided outstanding care to children and young adults.

“Staff took time to interact with children, young people, and their families in a respectful and considerate way. Feedback from carers and parents was overwhelmingly positive, with many saying the staff had changed their lives and the level of support they received had gone beyond what was expected of them.

“People at the service had access on site to a wide range of equipment to help with their needs, including innovative technology, a hydrotherapy pool and an audiology department.

“There was compassionate, inclusive and effective leadership at all levels, and the senior team frequently spent time in the service, not only for meetings but to get to know the children and young people and support the staff team.

“To achieve an outstanding rating for every aspect of care is a huge achievement. The whole team deserve to be congratulated for all their hard work and commitment.”

 CQC inspectors found:

  • All staff were extremely proud to work at the service and wanted to do their best for the children and young people in their care.
  • Children, young people, and their families said staff treated them well and with kindness.
  • Staff knew how to identify adults and children at risk of, or suffering, significant harm and worked with other agencies to protect them.
  • The provider had a behaviour support team to help staff working with the students to ensure that each young person was supported appropriately around their behaviour.
  • Seashell Health Service was commissioned by NHS England to design a clinical protocol to enable the delivery of the standard ear check protocol in children and young people with a learning disability.
  • Staff assessed each child and young person’s health when they started at the school or college and provided support to live a healthier lifestyle.
  • Inspectors saw examples, of children and young people using social stories to explain to the person how their transition would happen in a way that they understood.
  • Managers investigated incidents thoroughly. Children, young people, and their families were involved in these investigations.
  • Some staff are trained in Ayres sensory integration therapy. It includes individualised sensory motor activities carried out using a range of equipment including suspended equipment such as swings, working towards promoting an adaptive response and achieving a ‘just right’ state to promote participation in everyday activities.

The inspection report will publish on CQC’s website on Wednesday 30 November.

Notes to editor

           

 

Contact  

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Journalists wishing to speak to the press office outside of office hours can find out how to contact the team on the website.  

Notes to Editors

We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the safety, choices, dignity, and independence that most people take for granted.

Services should be ensuring that autistic people and people with a learning disability have access to care specific to their needs, including their physical health and are supported to follow their interests and aspirations. CQC ensures services are doing this in a number of different ways:

  • Ensuring the right services are regulated and registered : The statutory guidance ‘Right Support, Right Care, Right Culture’  means CQC can shape the market, making sure services only get registered when they evidence the right model of care to meet people’s needs.
  • Responding to risks swiftly and taking appropriate action: With an approach to inspections of services for autistic people and people with a learning disability putting people’s experience at the heart of these inspections. 

Our inspection of services for autistic people and people with a learning disability focus on:

  • Spending more time observing care 
  • Spending more time engaging with people and the staff who support them and their families 
  • Using a specific approach to identify if services are meeting the needs, aspirations and skills development of autistic people and people with a learning disability.  

 

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