Snowdon Ward is an inpatient unit situated in the Western Community Hospital comprising of 14 beds in total. The unit admits people for neurological rehabilitation including stroke and head injury. Care and rehabilitation is provided by a multidisciplinary team of specialist clinicians, nurses, therapists and support staff.

We found that services were safe. Patients and relatives told us they felt safe and had high confidence in the staff team. There was good monitoring of incidents such as falls and staff were open about how they could prevent incidents or accidents. Specialist equipment and rooms were available to support people in their rehabilitation. There was very detailed assessment of patient needs by the team of specialists which enable risk management to be part of the care and therapy planning process.

The service was effective because there was a strong team of specialist professional staff working closely together to meet patient’s short and long term goals. There was also effective collaboration with acute hospitals on admission and with community teams regarding discharge. Progress towards discharge, as rapidly as possible for the individual, was the key driver for patients and staff.

The service provided was caring. Experienced senior clinical specialists provided comprehensive programmes in which patients were supported with rehabilitation of their physical, social and emotional needs. All staff were aware that the plans of care and therapy were agreed with the patient and consent was obtained at each stage.

Services were responsive. There was a wide range of patients on the ward as the service was flexible to manage complex rehabilitation needs for people who had neurological injury. This included patients who had suffered a stroke, head injury or other nerve injury. We saw that individually tailored plans of rehabilitation were devised by the multidisciplinary team.

The service was well led as there was clear direction from senior staff. The ward matron, in collaboration with the consultant in rehabilitation, managed the admission process and all staff contributed to detailed planning towards discharge. Trust managers monitored the performance of the service through performance information and clear rationalised line management of the clinical teams. Patients and staff knew who to contact if they had any concerns about the service. Staff told us they were well supported through training, supervision and appraisal. They said it was a good place to work because they felt included as part of the team.