Cygnet Hospital Godden Green is a 33-bed service, which provides specialist acute and PICU services for women, run by Cygnet’s Health Care division. The hospital has been recognised for its “whole team commitment to improving carer involvement and support”.
In 2023, Cygnet became the first independent provider of health and social care services to be accredited by the Carers Trust Triangle of Care programme. Now the hospital, on Godden Green in Sevenoaks, has become the latest Cygnet Health Care service to achieve the one-star accreditation, meaning staff have successfully demonstrated their commitment to supporting carers.
The Triangle of Care is a quality improvement scheme for health and social care providers that promotes safety, recovery and wellbeing by including and supporting unpaid carers.
As part of their assessment, a Carers Trust panel spoke with staff and carers to gain an understanding of how carers are involved in their care of their loved ones.
Assessors noted: “Areas of strength include early identification of carers and evidence that carers’ views are actively welcomed. It was particularly good to hear that carer experience of an out of hours admission has led to new measures being put in place and a dedicated mobile phone contact set up.
“We saw good evidence that there is a ‘common sense’ approach to confidentiality and information sharing and that carer leads are becoming well established.”
Assessors were also impressed with the support that staff offer to carers and noted that “staff do offer informal support on an individual basis and regularly listen to carers concerns. This is good practice.”
The assessors highlighted how the carer awareness training offered at Cygnet Hospital Godden Green was “a cultural change turning point”.
It was also noted that Cygnet Hospital Godden Green are working with a carers advocacy service to further support carers.
Kate Mercer from the carers advocacy service Black Belt Advocacy told assessors, “[Cygnet Hospital Godden Green] have supported over 13 carers since the beginning of the year to access an advocate. They are proactive in explaining the advocacy service to carers and have been very helpful in supporting carers to understand how advocacy can help and decide if they would like to use an advocate.”
On receiving the accreditation, Hospital Manager Belinda Mawire said: “We are incredibly proud to have achieved the Triangle of Care accreditation. This highlights our ongoing commitment to work closely with carers. Through these partnerships, we help to ensure the best, most compassionate and effective support is given to our service users.
“At Cygnet Hospital Godden Green, we believe that collaboration with carers is the most important thing in delivering the highest standard of care. The significance of family and friends cannot be overlooked when it comes to caring for a loved one.
“We are so proud that our initiatives and work have been recognise by the assessors and we will continue to prioritise how we work together with carers. This is a really huge achievement for us.”
The assessment team from Carers Trust noted:
- Identifying carers: The service is identifying unpaid carers and providing them with support.
- Training and awareness: Staff members are attending carer awareness training and learning about the importance of carer involvement.
- Confidentiality and information sharing: Clear policies support communication with carers while respecting patient confidentiality.
- Designated Carer Leads: Each ward has appointed Carer Leads, enhancing carer support and advocacy.
- Comprehensive welcome packs: Carers receive detailed information on support services and care pathways upon patient admission.
- Carers are offered ongoing support and they are signposted to advocacy services, like Black Belt Advocacy.
Mary Patel, Triangle of Care programme lead at Carers Trust, said: “There is a clear commitment at Cygnet Hospital Godden Green to support carers. Staff have shown they are working hard to ensure carers are recognised and supported as equal and expert partners in care. At Carers Trust, we are looking forward to working together on their continuous improvement journey.”
In total, 18 Cygnet Health Care services have now received the Triangle of Care accreditation.