Kingarth: Outstanding Care & Outstanding Outcomes

“The service had demonstrated a proven track record of achieving outstanding care and outstanding outcomes. The positive culture, ethos, vision, and values of Kingarth shone through from the moment you stepped into the service.”

Openness, honesty, inclusive, kind, compassionate, nurturing… and outstanding. Just some of the words used to describe Kingarth in its Outstanding CQC report.

Congratulations Kingarth!

This exceptional report is testament to the hard work and expertise of the team, and their commitment to the people we support. A delight to read, and a true reflection of the outstanding people who live and work at Kingarth.

Right Support: People were extremely well supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests. Staff focused on people’s strengths and promoted what they could do, so people had a fulfilling and meaningful everyday life.

Right Care: Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. Staff promoted equality and diversity in their support for people. Where appropriate, staff encouraged and enabled people to take positive risks; this area was an exemplar of outstanding practice.

Right Culture: People were supported by staff who comprehensively understood best practice in relation to the wide range of strengths, impairments, or sensitivities people with a learning disability and/or autistic people may have. This meant people received compassionate, empowering, outstanding care that was tailored to their needs.

Comments from those working at Kingarth included:

• “It’s the best place I’ve ever worked. Communication is great. The support provided and the difference it makes to people’s lives is amazing.”
• “I can be exactly who I want to be here. I’ve never felt I needed to hide myself away”

Comments from those living at Kingarth included:

• “I may be out and about a lot, but I love this place to bits. I would have never got this far at the other places I lived.”
• “I like it better at Kingarth as I can go out anytime and do more cooking and cleaning.”

Comments from the professionals and advocates included:

• “On the whole I feel they provide a safe, supportive environment for [people] I have living there, and the staff make every effort to support these individuals in the community and in the house. Staff are knowledgeable about the [people] living there and have a good understanding of the risks involved.”
• “[Person] is still making excellent progress which is fantastic! I can’t believe how well [Person] is doing.”

Whilst we’d love to share every single point made in this inspection report, we’d be here all day. Instead, here are some highlights from each of the areas CQC assessed, and a link to the full report can be found below.

Safe

Kingarth is a safe place to live, where people are protected by a strong and distinctive approach to safeguarding. And it’s the positive risk-taking, giving people maximum control over their lives, that really stood out to the inspector.

• “Positive risk taking was a core organisational value.”
• “Staff were highly skilled in working with people to identify risk.”
• “Where a risk was linked to an activity that would promote independence or well-being, the risk was not considered a barrier and staff would work with people to implement safe and effective risk management plans.”

Effective

Kingarth provides effective care, and people are supported to achieve good outcomes and a great quality of life.

• “People had care and support plans that were personalised, holistic, strengths-based and reflected their needs and aspirations, as well as physical and mental health needs. People, those important to them and staff reviewed plans regularly together.”
• “Staff empowered people to make their own decisions about their care and support.
• “The environment was homely and stimulating.”

Caring

Kingarth is caring – infact, they even have their own KingCare poem, written by everyone there which beautifully captures people’s individuality. A caring service means that people are involved in their care and that they are treated with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect. People were truly respected and valued as individuals; and empowered as partners in their care in an exceptional service.

• “Everyone we spoke with told us staff always treated them with respect and ensured their privacy and dignity.”
• “Staff encouraged and helped people to be as independent as possible. Interactions were never rushed, with each interaction between people and staff not only seen as an opportunity for learning and achieving but undertaken in a caring and sensitive way.”
• “The open, inclusive, and supportive nature of the service meant that promoting equality, diversity, inclusion, and respecting people’s human rights was a golden thread that ran through every aspect of service delivery.”
• “Staff spoke with pride about the people they supported. It was clear staff were highly motivated to provide care and support that was kind, compassionate and nurturing.”

Responsive

Kingarth is responsive, and services are tailored to meet individuals’ needs and delivered in a way that ensures flexibility, choice and continuity of care.

• “A significant standout feature of Kingarth was the multi-disciplinary team approach in providing support that focused on people’s quality of life outcomes which were evidence based, and adapted as a person went through their support journey.”
• Staff had a profound understanding of the people they worked with. This led to truly meaningful discussions with people that helped staff understanding how people’s unique goals, no matter how big or small, could be achieved.
• Staff had a profound understanding of the people they worked with. This led to truly meaningful discussions with people that helped staff understanding how people’s unique goals, no matter how big or small, could be achieved.

Well-Led

Kingarth is led with exceptional and distinctive leadership. Leaders and the service culture that was created here has driven and improved high-quality, person-centred care.

• The registered manager was highly skilled and experienced in their field of expertise. Their skills, knowledge, and experience to perform their role was exceptional and they demonstrated a highly developed understanding of people’s needs.
• The provider invested in staff by providing them with quality training to meet the needs of all individuals using the service. All staff were afforded a line of sight for potential progression within the organisation.
• There was a well-established and fully embedded governance and quality assurance framework in place. There was a systematic cycle of planning, action, and review, reflecting aims and outcomes for people.
• Staff felt respected, supported, and valued which supported a positive and improvement-driven culture.

Quality and Compliance Director, Amanda Locke, added “This report and the observations noted during the inspection are a wonderful reflection of life at Kingarth. It’s fantastic to read the feedback from the people we support, our colleagues, and the external professionals. We’re all proud of the team and the hard work and dedication they demonstrate every day. Well done Kingarth!”