In September, the Brothers of Charity Services in Lancashire received a full re-accreditation visit from the Customer Service Excellence (CSE), carried out by Hugh Keachie. The Customer Service Excellence standard encourages organisations to focus on the individual needs and preferences of the service users.
As well as a full desk top review, Hugh Keachie met with a number of staff, partners and customers in September. He also visited our Sacred Heart flats on site at Lisieux Hall and a range of our social enterprises as well as the art exhibition at Astley Hall. He was really blown away by what he saw and experienced.
Our Lancashire Services received the accreditation based on 5 key categories; Customer Insight, the Culture of the Organisation, Information & Access, Delivery & Timeliness and Quality of Service.
In addition he is recommending the Brothers of Charity Services in Lancashire are compliant plus with the following six elements:
Customer Insight
- We make particular efforts to identify hard to reach and disadvantaged groups and individuals and have developed our services in response to their specific needs.
- We have made the consultation of customers integral to continually improving our service and we advise customers of the results and action taken.
Following feedback, engaging with the people we support and in response to the diverse needs of a younger transitional client base, we developed a dynamic Social Enterprise called SelectionBOCS. The media forum gives people accessing the service a place to express themselves using a combination of techniques and technologies including music, photography, film and animation.
The people we support produce their creative work themselves, which provides a meaningful method of self-expression with multiple benefits for holistic wellbeing and personal outcomes. The service provided is innovative as there isn’t anything that compares to it within the rest of the English Services or external service provision in the local areas. It is very different to traditional day service supports available that is accessible to everyone.
The Culture of the Organisation
- We use customer insight to inform policy and strategy and to prioritise service improvement activity.
The Lancashire friends and relationships group of which Brothers of Charity Service’s advocacy group, Voice for All, are a part of have been involved in supporting CQC to ensure that when they do inspections they are ensuring that people are properly supported in regards to relationships and sexuality.
This trailblazing work has resulted in the CQC now having launched their guidance for organisations. It is called ‘Relationships and sexuality in adult social care services. Guidance for CQC inspection staff and registered adult social care providers’.
Information and Access
- We have developed co-ordinated working arrangements with our partners that ensure customers have clear lines of accountability for quality of service.
- We evaluate how customers interact with the organisation through access channels and we use this information to identify possible service improvements and offer better choices.
In the past 12 months, Senior Managers from Supported Living Services have met regularly with Senior Managers from Day Opportunities & Community Engagement at monthly admissions and referrals meetings. At these formal meetings, progress updates from our referral tracker are assessed and information is shared about Service. This enables a holistic overview for a meaningful person centred support package to be designed and delivered to our customers in a more timely manner. This case management systemised approach enables improved packages to be put together for clients in a way that is more cohesive and goes above and beyond previous admission and referral processes.
- We interact within wider communities and we can demonstrate the ways in which we support those communities.
One of our social enterprises, Roccoco Coffee Lounge, has developed a Syrian Bistro in partnership with South Ribble Council which is held once a month as part of a unique Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme. It aims to resettle Syrian families in South Ribble; providing them with access to vital services and support to make their adjustment to life in the UK as seamless as possible. This development is innovative as it is designed to encourage the resettled families to share their rich culture through food while using the opportunity to experience working and socialising amongst the local communities. We have also recruited a Syrian employee to support this initiative.
Many thanks to our staff colleagues from across our Lancashire Services for your support with this process and achievement of the accreditation. The positive contribution in maintaining high levels of quality care and compliance for the people we support is greatly appreciated.
Darron Grundy, Chief Executive Officer of Brothers of Charity Services in England commented, ‘the re-accreditation of the Customer Service Excellence standard is very positive news and the addition of the six Compliance Plus Standards for the Brothers of Charity Services in Lancashire completes the very clear commitment and practice of the whole team to ensuring the highest standards of positive engagement with all our stakeholders.
An excellent outcome for which we should all be very proud’.