Enter and view: Mosaic Clubhouse, Lambeth

Healthwatch Lambeth conducted an announced enter and view visit on 2nd March, 2016, to Mosaic Clubhouse, an ‘opportunity centre’ for people recovering from mental health. Its objective is to help it’s members gain skills and qualifications that would help them back into paid employment. It was based in a newly refurbished, and well-located premises that the HW team found to be clean and well maintained from outside and bright and airy with good access for wheelchairs, from the inside. HW spoke to 12 members and 4 staff members while visiting and received feedback on the quality of services and support, staff interaction and feedback & complaints policies and Information and sign posting within the organisation. Some of this feedback was received online.

The HW team were pleased to hear the overwhelmingly positive feedback about the services, from the members, with some emphasising they felt “valued as equal partners in the running of the organisation”. The members found the range of activities ‘wide’ and varied, with very few saying they would change anything. The staff were commended by the members for their “very helpful”, “welcoming” and “non-judgemental” attitude. There was a slight concern on behalf of the HW staff that there was some “over-reliance” on the organisation by some of the members.

Based on the short visit, the Healthwatch Lambeth E & V team felt that Mosaic Clubhouse delivered an effective service that was highly valued by its members and staff. The extent to which participation and involvement was internalised into the everyday ways of working at the service, was very impressive. The team felt their observations and recommendations served as suggestions to support the service from being ‘very good’ to ‘excellent’.

The report recommends some improvements to the service in the shape of more training for staff, monitoring learning outcomes for students, looking for creative ways and lateral opportunities to link members’ interests to a business skills, giving members opportunity to lead unit meetings and develop their chairing skills, consider promoting alternative ways to seek suggestions, compliments and complaints, explain to members the rationale behind its no smoking policy to increase understanding and wellbeing and more specialist support for those with housing difficulties.

The service provider as responded where needed.