Westhall Park service update
Thursday 29th of December 2022Westhall Park in Surrey is a residential care home providing accommodation and personal care for up to six people with autism and/or a learning disability.
Following a comprehensive review over the last 18 months and in consultation with Surrey County Council, we have made the decision to close the service in Spring 2023. We believe that the building and facilities no longer meet the needs of the people we support there.
We are currently working closely with commissioning teams, people we support and their relatives on a transition plan to find suitable alternative accommodation and support for the people living at Westhall Park. Some people have already moved to other Avenues services, ensuring continuity of care and familiarity of support staff. All employees at the service have been informed of the decision and will continue to be employed by Avenues. Some staff will carry on supporting people in their new location.
Recent CQC inspection
Following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in November 2022, Westhall Park is rated as ‘Requires Improvement’. The service was previously rated as ‘Good’, and Avenues has an organisational commitment that all its services maintain a ‘Good’ CQC rating or better.
Whilst planning ahead for the closure of Westhall Park and as part of an ongoing service improvement plan, we’re working to address issues pointed out by CQC.
We’re pleased that, despite highlighting issues, CQC found that:
- “People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.”
- “Staff told us they felt supported by their managers and they had the opportunity to meet with them on a one to one basis for supervision.”
- “Relatives felt their family member was safe living at Westhall Park. Comments included, “I have no qualms at all. I’ve never been worried about [person’s name]” and, “Yes, he’s safe because the staff know him.”
Dan Gower-Smith, Group Operations Director at Avenues said, “At Avenues, we want to ensure that we offer a range of suitable housing solutions for the people we support, now and in the future. We recognise that the model at Westhall Park no longer meets the “right support, right care, right culture” guidance outlined by CQC. I believe that the transitions to alternative accommodation will much better meet people’s needs. I’m determined that we learn from our review and the CQC inspection to deliver the high quality service that we expect across all of our services.”
You can access the full report on the CQC website.
If you have a concern, complaint or compliment about any of our services, you can email us directly, (see easy read complaint guidance), or call us on 0300 323 0405. We aim to answer email enquiries within three working days.