Castlebeck Statement - July 28th 2011

Castlebeck Chief Executive Lee Reed said:

"Castlebeck has now received the CQC's reports into all of our services across England and acknowledges that some have not met the high standards we would expect to achieve, or which the people in our care and their families rightfully deserve. We are committed to addressing all of these shortcomings as a matter of urgency.

"We would also like to thank the CQC for publishing the results of their positive findings on many of our services, which found good quality care is being provided by our staff and the special needs of people in our care are being met.

"Some of those areas of concern highlighted by the CQC's reports include: training quality, levels of staff experience, inadequate governance reporting systems, a failure to include people in decisions about their care and a lack of interesting activities for them. These concerns were identified as issues in need of addressing when I took over as Chief Executive in January this year, since when they have been the subject of internal reviews and recommendations. Action has been taken as a result that will bring about positive change for all the people in our care.

"Every other CQC concern that has been identified will be vigorously addressed, as we take all the steps necessary to re-establish confidence in our service. We believe that the issues identified can best be addressed by all stakeholders working together. A solution that comes through cooperation will also minimise disruption for the people in our care.

"The safety and well-being of people in our care will always be of paramount importance to us and we will have a zero tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour directed against those who use our services.

"We remain deeply sorry for all that happened at Winterbourne View and also apologise for any incidences where our services have in the past not met the high standards that we, those we support and their families, expect and deserve. There is no place within our organisation for services that fail to deliver high quality care".

A committee of non-executive directors of Castlebeck has commissioned a full review of all the company's services by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the findings and recommendations from this report will be implemented in full. Castlebeck continues to work with CQC, safeguarding teams and other stakeholders across our other services to ensure patient safety and quality of care. Measures which have already been put in place include:

• A full-scale review of services, commissioned by Castlebeck and carried out by Debra Moore Associates
• An improved whistle-blowing policy (managed by an independent external company); each member of staff is now encouraged to report any allegations directly to the Chief Executive
• The implementation of an improved Activities Programme to offer more personal choice for people in our care
• A full advocacy service is currently being tendered for all services. An advocate is an independent person who visits services to communicate with and for service users to establish their best interests, wants and needs. All service users at Castlebeck will have access to an independent advocate to speak on their behalf.
• A newly-formed safeguarding committee has been appointed, overseen, audited and checked by an external consultant who will report directly to the Board of the Company. This committee will review all complaints and adult safeguarding referrals throughout the group.

Click here to view the CQC Reports and Action Plans

• Crisis Response
• Autistic Spectrum Conditions
• Acquired Brain Injury & Behavioural Rehabilitation
• Make a Referral

• Site map
• Contact us