Northampton brain injury service praised for '˜exceptional leadership'

Christchurch Court, in Abington, which provides specialist residential rehabilitation care and support for up to 17 adults with acquired brain injuries, demonstrated to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ‘an excellent commitment to providing outstanding care’, according to the inspectors, who visited in November 2017.

Registered manager Gill Jeffers was singled out for particular praise from staff, relatives and inspectors alike, with comments from her team including “her leadership and knowledge, is fantastic and she is an inspiration to all of us”. One relative added, “well-led is an understatement, Gill is exceptional, the service my relative receives just isn’t comparable to any other services, and we have been using services for more than 30 years.”

Gill, who joined the company in November 2016, said: “We are all extremely proud of the feedback we have received in the latest CQC report.

"It is testament to the hard work and dedication that the staff team here have put in over the past 12 months. We are passionate about providing high quality, person-centred care so to hear we’re getting things right is very rewarding.

This positive feedback was reflected in the ratings as they deemed the service, overall as Good, with the service gaining Outstanding in ‘well led’ and good in the other four areas of ‘safe’, ‘effective’, ‘caring’ and ‘responsive’.

She added: “As the registered manager, I receive tremendous support from all levels of the organisation, including our director of operations and chief executive officer.

"They have introduced a real culture of transparency and peer support, which benefits me in my role and is having a significant positive effect on the quality of service we are able to provide here at Christchurch Court.”

Christchurch Court is owned and operated by Christchurch Group, a provider of neurological rehabilitation that also has centres in York, Birmingham, Bedford and Harwell in Oxfordshire.

The report added: 'It was evident that staff had developed good relationships with people. People looked happy, were smiling and relaxed with staff and we saw people laughing and sharing a joke with staff.'