Enter and View : Penrose Housing, Lambeth

Healthwatch Lambeth conducted an announced enter and view visit on 19th October, 2016, to Penrose Housing, a charity that provides accommodation to those previously staying in mental health wards. It aims to support people from various backgrounds into independent, fulfilled lives, part of the forensic pathway for Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. This Enter and View visit was focussed on the high-support houses on Cavendish Road and Lynette Avenue which are a few minutes’ walk from one another. The aims of this visit were to get feedback from service users experience about the support they receive, and to understand the extent to which service users engage in other community based mental health projects across the borough and whether services are themselves operating collaboratively.

HW team found the outside of the houses to be clean and tidy, but no signage. The team toured both houses but met the service uses in Lynett house as Cavendish house didn’t have a communal area. For this purpose, they were given a panic alarm which is part of their policy. The service users commented “being understood and seen as human” as important to them as far as relationships with staff went. The best thing about Penrose Housing which they were very grateful for was the freedom they now had over their daily routine. Service users were encouraged to voice any activities they want to be part of, in their ‘speak out’ meeting, but some kept to themselves. Goals were set between key workers and service users with the most common one to eventually live independently and have their own flats. For feedback and complaints, they all expressed preference to speaking one to one ‘in private’ to staff then in the meetings. Staff reported needing more training and support as they were left vulnerable at times if some individuals became aggressive, and the police is reluctant to step in.

Penrose Housing supports service users with complex and vastly differing needs and presentations. There was evidence of good practice discussed by service users and staff and a clear desire to help support service users to recovery. The team felt that service users’ desire for independence and individuality was clear. It was felt that Penrose Housing could more widely utilise external support services and resources such as employment and training projects like Status or First Step Trust to support this. Overall, it is a supportive environment for those coming out of hospital and with other complex needs. To build on this, some clear steps could be taken to improve communication with the service users and more widely with other services in the area. As the project moves to Streatham next year, it may be a good opportunity to integrate more fully into the area and work collaboratively across different projects.

The report recommends making notice boards more organised, keep service users informed of changes to key workers or staff members so individual are prepared, more training towards confidentiality and behaviour and on forensic mental health issues, more peer activities for the service users, complaints policy advertised adequately, promote other local services and projects to the residents for more community participation.

The service provider responded with some clarification and action to be taken .