Archived: East Kent Substance Misuse Service - Canterbury

Updated 1 March 2017

East Kent Substance misuse service is a community integrated drug and alcohol service run by the Turning Point. They were commissioned to offer this service in April 2013. There are five hubs, Canterbury (registered location), South Kent Coast, Thanet, Swale and Ashford. We inspected the Canterbury, Thanet and South Kent Coast (Dover) hubs.

The service also operated satellite services across multiple sites and locations in order to meet clients’ needs and to ensure they provided an accessible service for all clients.

The service had a registered manager.

Turning Point was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on 1st April 2013 to provide the following regulated activity; treatment of disease, disorder or Injury.

Updated 1 March 2017

We found the following areas of good practice:

• The hubs and clinic rooms were clean, tidy and well equipped to meet client’s needs. All appropriate health and safety records were in order.

• Turning Point’s ethos was to offer a person centred service to clients, with the aim to empower clients to be successful and take control of their lives. We saw evidence of this in how staff respected client’s views and wishes, as well as actively seeking client feedback. Clients told us that staff were respectful, supportive and non-judgemental.

• Clients received a comprehensive assessment of their needs and a care plan was formulated jointly with their recovery worker. The hubs had an experienced staff team and clients spoke of having regular key work sessions.

• Clients and carers spoke positively about the care and support they received from staff.

• The organisation worked jointly with other agencies in order to offer a service to all clients and respond to clients individual needs.

• There was an effective clinical governance process in place which ensured audits were undertaken and learning was disseminated across the hubs.

• Staff received regular supervision and appraisals. The hub managers were very approachable and available to staff and senior managers visited the different hubs regularly.

• The organisation operated a peer mentoring scheme for former clients offering training and the ability to develop skills.

However,

• There was not a robust alarm system available at the hubs we visited. The services in the South Kent Coast (SKC) area had some alarms in rooms but Thanet did not have any. Hand held alarms were available but this was inconsistent. We brought this to the attention of the provider and they recognised the risk this posed to staff. Senior management addressed this whilst we were on our inspection and were looking at different alarm systems and requesting quotes.

• Basic life support training was not part of the mandatory training for staff. This meant that not all staff were equipped to respond to an emergency situation.

Updated 1 March 2017