Archived: Addaction - Barnsley, John Street

Updated 12 January 2017

Addaction Barnsley John Street is a harm reduction service in Barnsley. The service is delivered by the parent provider Addaction who are registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide services at 46 other locations. At the time of our inspection the manager was undertaking the application process to become the registered manager of the service. The previous manager had voluntarily deregistered because they had left the organisation.

Addaction Barnsley John Street is registered to provide the regulated activities of; treatment of disease, disorder and injury and diagnostic and screening. The service is commissioned by the Stronger Safer and Healthier Communities Directorate within Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.

The service provides:

• Specialist harm reduction advice including advice around safe injecting and checking injection sites for signs of infection.

• Needle exchange programme. The needle exchange provides clients with access to sterile injecting equipment and safe disposal of used equipment to reduce the risk of transmission of infections and disease.

• Triage assessment for new clients. An initial assessment of drug and alcohol use and exploration of readiness for treatment.

• Brief interventions and cannabis group. Brief interventions are opportunistic interactions where staff meet with clients and discuss motivation to change and engage in treatment for alcohol or drug misuse. The cannabis group is a short programme of group sessions aimed at increasing the awareness of the effects of using cannabis.

• Outreach work in the local community and with external organisations

• Blood borne virus clinics including screening and vaccinations. Staff also provide information and advice to clients about the risk of blood borne viruses. Blood borne viruses are diseases which can be spread through bodily fluids.

• Training to other professionals

• Fixed penalty notice group. This is where clients have been issued a fixed penalty notice with the requirement to attend an awareness group as an alternative to a fine or other legal consequence.

The blood borne virus clinic provided by Addaction Barnsley John Street provides the service for all clients across the treatment programme in the Barnsley area. Where clients require more structured treatment including substitute prescribing and detoxification, the service refers clients to a commissioned external organisation.

Addaction John Street works with adults aged 18 years and above who have a history of, or current, drug or alcohol issues. The service operates five days per week and opening times vary between 9am and 8.15pm.

The service was last inspected in May 2013 in accordance with the Care Quality Commission methodology in use at the time. The service met all standards at that inspection.

Updated 12 January 2017

We found the following areas of good practice:

• Clients gave universally positive feedback about staff. Clients told us that they thought that staff cared about their well-being beyond their use of substances and treated them like people. They told us they felt welcome at the service, safe and supported by staff.

• We saw that staff knew clients well and treated them with respect and compassion. When new health treatments became available for a medical condition staff contacted clients who had used the service to inform them of this and supported clients to access this treatment through local health services.

• Staff worked with agencies and in the local communities to increase awareness of the risks of substance misuse and the services and treatments available for people to access. We saw that this re-engaged some clients back into treatment for drug and alcohol use.

• Psychosocial intervention skills were used in brief interventions and groups including cannabis groups and fixed penalty groups.

• The service had a clinic room and a qualified nurse to deliver blood borne virus screening, vaccinations, basic wound and blood care. Emergency equipment was available and all medicines and equipment were in date.

• Staff had knowledge of safeguarding procedures and could explain how they responded to safeguarding concerns.

However, we found the following areas that the provider needs to improve:

• Clients’ initial assessments identified risks in relation to the individual and their substance use. However, the care and treatment records for clients receiving brief interventions did not contain a risk assessment or risk management plan. We could not see how risks to clients using the service were being managed or mitigated.

• Care and treatment records did not contain a signed agreement to show if clients consented to sharing information and if they did consent what they agreed to share and with whom. However, staff and clients told us that this consent was agreed verbally.

• The supervision rate for staff was 67%. This had been identified through a quality audit visit by the provider. The provider had an action plan in place to increase the rate of staff supervision and ensure that all staff received regular supervision.

• Not all staff were up to date with all areas of their mandatory training.

Updated 12 January 2017

Inspected but not rated.