Meadows Mews, on Tame Road in Tipton, is a community residential service for men with neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative conditions. Part of the Cygnet Health Care division, the 10-bed service helps residents transition from inpatient rehabilitation into community living.
Headway’s approved provider scheme utilises standards developed to reflect the specific needs of individuals with an acquired brain injury (ABI). These standards are used to evaluate a range of facilities including hospitals and neuro-rehabilitation units, residential and nursing homes and respite facilities.
The process includes a robust on-site assessment, within an inspection system that also involves unannounced interim reviews. The Headway team assessed Meadows Mews on 30 May and talked with the hospital manager, wider staff and two service users.
The service was evaluated across six domains; Culture, Systems & Processes, Workforce Development, Service Delivery, Governance Leadership and Management & Quality, and finally, Environment.
The Headway assessment team rated Meadows Mews as ‘Good’ in four domains and ‘Outstanding’ in two domains, with an overall rating of ‘Good’.
The assessors recognised that the focus of the service “continues to be to create a home-from-home experience where service users can put into place, with support if needed, the skills they have learnt whilst in the hospital so that these can be strengthened to support a discharge into the community.”
The assessment report highlights many areas of positive practice, with assessors stating: “Meadows Mews has a clearly identified service purpose and philosophy that is understood by staff, service users, carers and families.
“There is a diverse ethnic staff team, and service users will always have someone to speak with. The staff ensure that all events are multicultural.
“Although transitional life skills are a main focus, Meadows Mews can also be seen as a ‘Place for life’, a ‘forever home’. Discharge can be a focus, and life skills such as making appointments with doctors, dentists, Banks and post office are all supported and practised.”
Assessors added that all staff know the service users well and how to support them to develop the skills require to progress towards higher levels of independence. Care and goal plans seen showed evidence of a person centred approach and incorporated specific brain injury needs.
Residents told assessors that they are involved in making decisions about their care and support and are involved with goal setting, including attending reviews to discuss their needs. The staff introduce a range of activities that might be of interest, including cinema visits, themed meals, library visits, BBQ’s, multicultural cook-ups, darts, swimming and outings, e.g. Blackpool. The Therapy Coordinator works closely with the service users to plan activities.
The assessment report added: “Service users have regular sessions with the Therapy Coordinator, who supports them in making decisions about activities they want to do and ensures they are supported to achieve goals by focusing on tasks they need to do.
“Residents are supported to spend time with family members away from the service, and they are enabled to travel to their home area with staff support as needed.
“Residents said they are treated respectfully, and they knew who to talk to if they had concerns and felt that they would be able to do this.”
Service Manager Jacqueline Johnson said she was proud to be re-accredited. She added: “We as a staff team are delighted that Meadows Mews has been re-accredited by Headway under their Approved Provider Scheme. We place our residents at the heart of everything we do and every decision we make.
“Nothing makes us happier than to see them succeed and see them leave to live as independently as they can following a devastating brain injury. We’re delighted that Headway has seen that we deliver a great service with our residents and recognised all the hard work I see take place every day from both residents and staff.
“To be recognised as Outstanding in two domains is testament to the quality service we deliver. The incredible team at Meadows use humour and creativity to engage with our residents service users; they take time to listen to what each residents wants to do and works with them to help them get where they need to be.
“The Meadows team unlocks hidden potential and nurtures residents to enable them to make informed choices about how to keep their options open long into the future and works with them to find the right path for them. I’m really proud that the dedication and compassion of my staff has been recognised through this accreditation.”