Technology House

Technology House is a registered location for HCRG Care Services Ltd. providing community health services for children, young people and their families across Wiltshire.

We rated it as good because:

• Services were tailored to meet the needs of children and young people and were delivered in a way to ensure flexibility, choice and continuity of care. The child or young person’s individual needs and preferences were central to the planning and delivery of these services.
• The involvement of other organisations and the local community were integral to how services were planned and ensured that services met the child and young person’s needs. There was good interaction between the local GPs, the acute and mental health hospitals and the services provided.
• The leadership, governance and culture were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care. Leaders had a shared purpose, strove to deliver and motivate staff to succeed.
• While the service had staff vacancies, they used regular bank and agency staff to maintain care for children and young people that kept them safe.
• Staff were committed to continually learning and improving services. They worked alongside GPs, the youth justice health group and the Ministry of Defence in creating a service that was responsive to the needs of children, young people and their families.
• Staff had training in key skills, understood how to protect children and young people from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed the risks to children and young people, acted on them and kept good care records.
• The service, where applicable used systems and processes to administer and record medicines safely. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff reviewed safety information and used it to improve the service.
• Team leaders monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of children and young people, advised them and their families on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
• There was a proactive approach to understanding the needs of different groups of children and young people and to deliver care in a way that met these needs and promoted equality. This included children and young people with complex needs.
• Staff treated children and young people with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity and took account of their individual needs. They provided emotional support to children and young people, families and carers. The parents we spoke with were happy with the service provided and said staff were “excellent.”
• Leaders were knowledgeable about quality issues and had the experience and capability to ensure that the strategy could be delivered. Leaders encouraged cooperative, supportive relationships among staff so that they felt respected, valued and supported.
• Governance and performance management arrangements were proactively reviewed and reflected best practice. There was an effective and comprehensive process in place to identify, understand, monitor and address current and future risks.
• Leaders actively reviewed complaints and how they were managed and responded to, and improvements were made as a result across the service.
• The service provided care to meet the needs of local people, took account of children and young people’s individual needs, and ensured they could provide feedback. The service had provision to review waiting lists and were able to signpost to alternative organisations. The service worked well with external organisations to plan care.

However

• Waiting times from referral to treatment and arrangements to admit, treat and discharge children and young people were not always in line with national standards and people could not always access the service when they needed it or receive the right care promptly. The service had processes to manage this which included an electronic digital programme which could provide daily updates on waiting lists and a waiting time initiative. Senior leaders worked alongside the commissioners to review demand and capacity on the services provided.