There was a range of information available to patients and their families about what to expect from Ferndene and more specifically the Redburn unit. This had been written jointly by staff and patients. We found there were regular and consistent communication systems between staff, patients and their families.

We spoke with the Northumberland Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (NTW) Service manager and Service Improvement and Project lead for the children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). We were told that the model of care used for the CAMHS services was the Choice and Partnership Approach (CAPA).

This approach brings together the active involvement of young people and their families, demand and capacity ideas in relation to staffing and a new approach to clinical skills and job planning. This model of care has been introduced over the last two years and has led to reduced waiting lists, transparency of approach and a better understanding of people’s needs. Care records showed patients had been involved in planning their care and had given their consent. We saw information about legal rights had been explained to patients. An advocate was available on a weekly basis, or more often if needed, and patients told us they had a named nurse allocated to them.

Staff were aware of their child protection responsibilities and patients were aware of how to report any concerns or issues they had.

Ferndene is a new purpose built facility. We found the ward environment was well maintained and suited to its purpose.

We found staffing levels were appropriate and in line with the provider’s expectations on the day. Staff said they would prefer a higher ratio of staff to patient and felt consistency of staff at times was an issue.

We found there were a range of checks carried out by staff to ensure the quality of the service and environment was monitored.

As part of this inspection, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) liaised with other statutory bodies to identify an overall view of how the trust was performing and any areas of concern. Contact was made with Healthwatch England, NHS England and Monitor, and their views were taken into account in arriving at the judgements on compliance.

No specific areas of concern affecting this inspection were received from local Healthwatch England, the independent consumer champion for health and social care.

Monitor has the responsibility for ensuring foundation trusts, such as Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, are well led in terms of quality and finance. CQC received confirmation that apart from one recently received concern, Monitor had no other significant concerns regarding the trust. The issues raised by the specific concern were looked at during this inspection and are the subject of ongoing review by CQC.

NHS England has the responsibility for commissioning services and ensuring the provision of high quality services. The Cumbria, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear Area Team had the view that the trust is providing good care but had some questions about specific services and broader issues such as restraint policy. CQC was made aware that these, as well as quality and workforce issues, restraint and specific serious untoward incidents, will be discussed with the trust through a meeting of the Quality Review Group in September 2013. These issues are subject to ongoing monitoring by CQC and have been taken into account in the judgements made in this report.

We spoke to three young people about the care they received. They were asked about care plans, and each person knew that they had a care plan and some chose to have a copy.

One young person told us “Staff do give choices, some staff give good support, my care plan does have healthy choices, staff do explain choices and risks, my cultural needs are in my care plan. My care plan does include signs when I am not well, such as triggers to do with my mental health”.

We spoke to the advocate for all the young people. She told us that she had never had to report any safeguarding concerns. She explained that the staff were always transparent and no information had ever been withheld. The young people were able to express how they felt and the staff always responded promptly to any concerns.