Enter & View: The Tree House

Healthwatch Lambeth is pleased to have completed its first post-Covid-19 Enter and View visit.

Enter and View involves visiting publicly funded health and social care services to see how care is delivered, and talking to service users, carers and staff. We are not inspectors, and we focus on what it is like for people receiving care.

We carried out an Enter and View visit to The Tree House on Friday 10 February 2023. The Tree House offers short-stay (eight weeks) supported living for mental health service users when they are discharged from hospital, before returning to the community. It has six bedrooms for service users with depression, anxiety, unstable personality disorder (UPD) and PTSD.

Key findings

• The shared physical environment was clean and tidy, with a good communal area, kitchen, bathroom and garden.
• There were good relations between residents and staff, and residents were very positive about the care they received from staff.
• The carer we spoke to was happy with the care given by staff, felt informed, and was able to visit when she wished.
• Staff enjoyed working at The Tree House and found the work fulfilling and rewarding. They were motivated to support residents to the best of their ability.

Key challenges

• The main challenge highlighted by residents, a carer, staff and the manager was the lack of suitable housing for residents to move on to, which meant residents were staying at The Tree House for far longer than eight weeks, and much longer than was necessary (sometimes months). There was also the fear of being discharged back to accommodation that was unsuitable or not fit for purpose.
• The other key challenge faced by residents was in accessing and using GP services. There were problems getting through to the practice on the phone, in accessing face-to-face appointments, and in using digital/online services.
• The Manager also highlighted issues around contacting, and communicating with, care coordinators, care workers, and community mental health teams (CMHTs), which made discharge planning difficult.

You can read our full report, which contains our recommendations, and the management response from The Tree House to our recommendations, by following the link below: