Sirona staff are celebrating after being praised for the outstanding care they give to those who use their services by Care Quality Commission inspectors.
Numerous examples of innovative work and practices described as outstanding could be found across Sirona care & health, the CQC inspectors said in their report.
“Staff were often described as going the extra mile and the care people received exceeded their expectations,” the report stated.
Examples given included how staff worked together to provide increased care and support for an individual to enable their partner to attend a family wedding and a member of staff at Thornbury Hospital who, whilst caring for someone at the end of their life, heard all about their love of the smell of fish and chips and then promptly purchased these for all the patients on the ward helping to evoke past positive memories.
The report not only praised the outstanding care but highlighted the fact quality and safety were top priorities for the organisation, and that care was truly person centred, with the individual’s well-being at the heart of care.
The report also talked about the outstanding multi-disciplinary working across services, with GPs and with other health care providers, it also drew attention to the open and honest culture towards those using the service and the fact that patients had gone to great lengths to tell the inspectors about their positive experiences.
The use of technology by teams to avoid admission to hospital and clear advice to help prevent ill-health was also highlighted in the report on the not-for-profit social enterprise which received an overall rating of good.
Sirona, which currently provides services in Bath and North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and surrounding areas, was inspected as part of the CQC’s comprehensive community health services inspection programme which looks at whether it is safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led and was assessed as good overall with caring rated as Outstanding. Sirona’s End of Life Care service also received an overall rating of Outstanding.
Janet Rowse, Sirona’s chief executive, said: “I am immensely proud of every single member of staff who have always taken the care they provide personally and ensure that we care for those who need us in the same way we would for our own loved ones. This is official recognition of the outstanding care they provide and we are all delighted.
“The CQC inspection came at a time of great change for Sirona but despite this, our staff demonstrated that they always put the individual at the centre of everything they do supported by our latest feedback from individuals, families and carers that 98 per cent would recommend us to others.
“Within Sirona we actively encourage feedback and this overwhelmingly positive CQC report is welcomed but will not make us complacent. As with any inspection, there are a number of recommendations which will help us deliver even better services; some of these have been actioned already and we are well on the way to addressing the majority of the others.”
“The overall rating of good which we have received now allows us to build even further and many of the areas highlighted in the report show us what we need to do to get from Good to Outstanding which is our ultimate aim.”
Amanda Eddington, the CQC’s Hospital Inspection Manager, South West said: “In our inspection of Sirona care & health we found staff going the extra mile with people consistently received care which exceeded their expectations.
“The relationships between people who used the service, those close to them and staff was strong, caring and supportive and for that we gave the service an outstanding rating.
“The organisation’s ethos of ‘Taking it personally’ was described and demonstrated by staff at all levels of the organisation who we found were keen to discuss the impact it had on patient care and what it meant to them as individuals.
“‘Taking it personally’ involved patients being treated with courtesy and respect, people felt welcome, there was effective communication and this allowed people to feel valued. Staff did their utmost to be caring and supportive and this allowed care to be effective, consistent and professional.
“Staff were proud of the organisation and the services the teams they worked in were providing.
“We also found end of life care outstanding. There was holistic and person centred support completely embedded within the department with patients and family fully involved and informed about all aspects of treatment and care. Relationships were highly valued by both patients and families and staff.
“That important attention to detail and level of care, treatment and support provided by staff far exceeded expectations.”
Bath MP, Ben Howlett said: “The report itself found caring within Sirona as “outstanding” and described staff as often going the extra mile with the care people received exceeding expectations.
“I recognise this is a period of significant change at Sirona, and am delighted that the excellent staff and work they do within Sirona has been recognised by the CQC.”
To read the report in full, click here.
