Archived: SMART Bracknell

Updated 31 October 2016

SMART Bracknell is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide the following service:

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

SMART Bracknell is a community based drug and alcohol service which provides support for people at any stage in their treatment journey. SMART Bracknell offers a range of interventions which include medical assessment, one to one support, group work and needle exchange.

The Bracknell Forest Council Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) commission the service. Clients could refer themselves for treatment. Professionals including GPs, the probation service, social services and the community mental health team could refer people into the service. All referrals were made to the single point of contact for the DAAT who arranged for a local area screening and referral services (LASAR) assessment. The LASAR completed an assessment and referred clients to SMART Bracknell to allocate a recovery facilitator to work with the client.

SMART Bracknell was previously inspected by the Care Quality Commission in March 2014 and the service was found to be meeting all of the listed standards.

There is a registered manager at the service.

Updated 31 October 2016

We do not currently rate independent standalone substance misuse services.

We found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

• There had been two unexpected deaths of clients in 2016 that had not been reported to the Care Quality Commission, although this took place after the inspection.
• Risk management plans were not always in place for clients including those identified as medium and high risk.
• Not all staff had received specialist training in substance misuse as recommended by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) although plans for this were in place.
• There was not adequate accessibility for people with a physical disability.
• It was initially difficult for staff to locate a complaints leaflet and these were not widely distributed or easily available for clients to access.

However, we also found the following areas of good practice:

• The service followed guidelines on treatment and therapies from NICE and the Royal College of General Practitioners.
• The service responded to changing client needs and risks and took the individual into account when considering a change to medicine dosage.
• Client consent to treatment was sought regularly.
• There was a low level (1.13%) of permanent staff sickness reported.
• Uptake of mandatory training  was 70% and plans were in place for all staff to complete this.
• Staff were aware of the safeguarding policy and procedures.
• Staff knew the procedure for reporting incidents.
• 1:1 sessions demonstrated that the staff members had a good level of knowledge around their client’s needs and had developed good therapeutic relationships.
• Clients were very positive in their feedback of the service and the care and respect they received from staff members.
• The service ran a weekly family support group for carers of clients using the service.
• Staff told us they felt good about their job and that there was a strong culture in the team of wanting to help clients. Staff felt able to raise concerns without the fear of victimisation.
• Staff felt that senior management listened to them and were visible.
• Following feedback from clients the service had begun to implement a ‘skills level one ‘employability course’.