The Soke

Updated 28 January 2022

The Soke is an independent mental health and wellness centre based in South Kensington / Chelsea. It is a multi-disciplinary centre with practitioners who cover a range of specialities treating conditions including, but not limited to, depression, anxiety, OCD, eating disorders and addictions. The centre treats adults and couples, children, adolescents and families and organisations.

The service employs a range of different clinicians including adult and child consultant psychiatrists, systemic family therapists, chartered and consultant clinical and educational psychologists, Cognitive Behaviour (CBT) and Dialectical Behaviour (DBT) Therapists, psychotherapists and a dietitian.

The Soke describes itself as providing an ‘outcome-focused, service-led model’ that ‘utilises the experience of all our practitioners to ensure that our clients achieve effective, lasting results and benefit from collective experience delivered through a single point of access’.

The Soke opened in October 2020 and registered with the Care Quality Commission in December 2020 to deliver one regulated activity: treatment of disease, disorder and injury. The service has a Nominated Individual and a Registered Manager.

The Soke has never been inspected before.

The Soke Limited, the registered provider, also has a charitable arm, The Soke Foundation, a non-profit organisation that supports non-religious and non-political community mental health initiatives in need of funding assistance. The foundation derives its income through a portion of The Soke’s profits and its overheads are underwritten by the trustees.

What people who use the service say

The service gathered feedback from patients using the service and shared this with staff on a monthly basis. In September and October 2021 patients said they felt at ease and at home in the clinic. They said the therapists were kind, understanding, supportive and instrumental in bringing about positive change. The environment was described as calming.

Patients we spoke to told us they were treated kindly and felt involved and informed about their care and treatment. They said the clinic was friendly, accommodating and welcoming.

During our inspection we observed interactions between staff and patients that respected their privacy and dignity. Records showed that patients were involved in their care and treatment plan and setting goals.

Updated 28 January 2022

We rated it as outstanding because:

• Staff had developed a truly holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment in collaboration with families and carers. The safe use of innovative and pioneering approaches to care were encouraged and new evidence-based techniques and technologies were used to support the delivery of high-quality care. Staff were actively engaged in clinical audits to evaluate the quality of the care they provided.
• The service provided care and treatment to children and young people, adults of working age, older adults, couples, adults and children with learning disabilities and autistic people.
• The service had access to a wide range of specialists required to meet the needs of the patients through the delivery of multiple therapeutic approaches. Managers ensured that these staff received training, supervision and appraisal. Staff were committed to working collaboratively and used the multidisciplinary team innovatively and efficiently to deliver joined up care, share knowledge and expertise which benefited patients.
• Staff understood the principles underpinning capacity, competence and consent as they apply to children and young people and managed and recorded decisions relating to these well.
• Patients were truly respected and valued as individuals and were empowered as partners in their care, practically and emotionally by an exceptional and distinctive service.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of patients. Staff were highly motivated and inspired to offer care that was kind and promoted patients’ dignity. Patients thought that staff went the extra mile and their care and support exceeded their expectations.
• The service was easy to access. People’s individual needs and preferences are central to the delivery of tailored services. There are innovative approaches to providing integrated person-centred pathways of care including for people and families with complex needs. The criteria for referral to the service did not exclude patients who would have benefitted from care.
• The service was well led, and the governance and culture ensured that that procedures relating to the work of the service ran smoothly and were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care. There was compassionate, inclusive and effective leadership at all levels and comprehensive and successful leadership strategies were in place to ensure and sustain delivery and to develop the desired culture. Leaders had a deep understanding of the issues, challenges and priorities in their service.
• The service provided safe care. Clinical premises where patients were seen were safe and clean. The number of patients on individual members of staff was not too high to prevent staff from giving each patient the time they needed. Staff assessed and managed risk well and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.

Updated 28 January 2022

We rated well-led as outstanding.

The inspection covered the care of both children and young people and adults. A single report has been written to include the services provided to adults and children. Please refer to the main report below for evidence supporting our judgements.

Updated 28 January 2022