Enter and View - County Durham Community Mental Health Units

Our trained representatives went into the following six sites to get feedback from the residents and staff:

• Merrick House (Peterlee)
• DerwentClinic (Shotley Bridge)
• Enterprise House (Spennymoor)
• Chester Le Street Unit(Chester le Street)
• Kirkstone Villa (Lanchester Road Hospital)
• GoodallCentre (Bishop Auckland). 

Overall we spoke with 94 service users and 31 staff members. 

Recommendations 

The following recommendations have been formulated based on observations of the environment and feedback gathered from residents, relatives and staff across all six Community Mental Health Teams.

Staff Development and Wellbeing

• Provide staff with regular training on care plan development and
  managing challenging situations.
• Promote staff wellbeing to support high-quality care. Ensure consistency in staffing and provide service users with access to the most appropriate staff member. Communicate clearly who their named worker is and who to contact when that person is unavailable.
• Recognise and promote the positive work staff do, highlighting their friendliness and caring nature. Support staff in signposting service users to appropriate external services.

Care Planning and Service User Involvement

• Actively involve service users in the development and review of their care plans.
• Regularly update care plans and ensure service users understand what is included, how to access the plan, and when it will next be reviewed.
• Follow up on all support offered, especially after appointments or changes in medication.
• Clearly manage service user expectations about what the service can and cannot provide.
• Provide supportive and compassionate communication while users are waiting for appointments or services.

Feedback and Rights

• Ensure all service users are aware of the complaints process andunderstand that raising concerns will not negatively affect their care.
• Create a clear, easy to understand document outlining service users’rights, what they can expect from the service, and what to do if those expectations are not met.

Environment and Accessibility

• Ensure all conversations are conducted in private to upholdconfidentiality; address any instances of overheard discussions.
• Create a clean, friendly, and welcoming environment with access tonatural light.
• Improve access to telephone support—ensure phone lines areconsistently answered and adequately staffed.
• Ensure reception staff are welcoming and helpful.
• Provide clear, accurate signage throughout the facility.
• Consider using less clinical or more community-based spaces to promotea comfortable atmosphere.
• Offer appointments outside standard 9am - 5pm hours to increaseaccessibility and flexibility.