Enter and view: Magnolia Unit

Healthwatch Enfield gather information on people’s experiences of health and social care services and there are times when it is appropriate for Healthwatch Enfield to see and hear for themselves how services are being delivered: these visits are called ‘Enter and View’, they are not inspections.

Healthwatch Enfield visited Magnolia Unit on 17/07/2018.

The summary of findings highlighted areas in relation to patient feedback, staff feedback and observation. These findings informed, Healthwatch Enfield found the Magnolia unit to be a friendly environment, with a good layout for the patients enabling them to be re-habilitated in an appropriate timescale. There was good interaction with the staff, working as a multi-disciplinary team and willing to take on each other’s tasks. The patient’s main concern was around ‘boredom’ and some consideration should be given to this to promote patients’ well-being during their stay. The management were actively looking to improve the experience and outcomes for patients although this was driven by the recent CQC inspection report. Some of the issues identified were longstanding and possibly investment in the unit has not been a Trust priority. Systems such as the call bell and improvements to the garden areas should be implemented. Overall, the unit appears to be well-run. The move towards a co-production methodology is to be encouraged.

There were 9 recommendations in this report which included areas around the themes of quality improvements, system for notification of equipment failures, risk assessment around security and recruitment of volunteers and staff.