The Birches

Updated 17 April 2014

The Trust has a total of 21 active locations. There are  three hospital sites: Brooklands, St Michael’s Hospital and Caludon Centre.  There are four locations providing respite services for children with learning disabilities.  The Birches is one of these.

The Trust provides a wide range of mental health and learning disability services for children, young adults, adults and older adults as well as providing a range of community services for people in Coventry.

Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust has been inspected 21 times since registration.  Out of these, there have been 10 inspections covering five locations which are registered for mental health conditions. 

The Birches has not previously been inspected.

Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust provides overnight short breaks to children with a learning disability and additional health needs (complex physical health needs and/or mental health/behavioural needs). It provides this service in four separate locations. These services all provide planned respite care for children and young people away from their parents or other main carers.

The Birches in Coventry provides care for up to seven children with learning disabilities and additional physical health needs.

Updated 17 April 2014

The Birches in Coventry provides respite care for up to seven children with learning disabilities and additional physical health needs.

Parents told us they felt their children were safe at The Birches. Staff understood how to keep children safe and how to report any issues of concern. We found that there were comprehensive risk assessment systems in place to keep children and the environment safe.

There were systems in place to ensure an effective service.  Children and staff could give feedback and influence the running of the service via daily meetings. Surveys and audits measured the quality and effectiveness of the service. Staff undertook training to ensure they were competent and confident in their work with children.

Children who use services were involved in developing their care plans and risk assessments. Children were complimentary about staff and we saw children were treated with dignity and respect.

Staff felt supported by their teams and line managers and used systems for giving feedback on the service. Staff told us that they had direct contact with their managers but did not meet Trust executive team members.

Children we met were not detained under the Mental Health Act 1983; therefore we have not referred to the systems in place for monitoring the application of the Act in this report.

Updated 17 April 2014

Decisions about bed occupancy were based on children’s needs. This meant that sufficient numbers of staff could meet children’s needs, without conflicting with the needs of others, in a safe environment.

Staff were trained and experienced and showed high levels of motivation and commitment. Many of the staff we spoke with had worked at The Birches for many years. All showed a very good knowledge of the needs of individual children and how to meet them.

We spoke by phone with a number of parents who all expressed satisfaction with the services they used.

We observed that staff and children interacted in a warm, friendly and supportive manner throughout.