Littledale Hall Therapeutic Community

Updated 27 January 2020

Littledale Hall Therapeutic Community is a 32-bed residential substance misuse service. It offers psychosocial rehabilitation services to individuals with substance misuse and addiction problems. The service offers treatment to men and women over the age of 18. The service does not offer detoxification programmes. All clients undergo detoxification or are free from illicit substances before admission.

The service is registered to provide accommodation of persons who require treatment for substance misuse. The service has a registered manager and a nominated individual.

Littledale Hall Therapeutic Community has been registered with the CQC since December 2010. It has been inspected five times. At our last inspection in March 2019 the service was rated inadequate and placed in special measures. The service was rated inadequate in the safe and well-led domains; requires improvement in the responsive domain and good in the effective and caring domain.

We issued two warning notices. We issued one warning notice under regulation 17 (good governance). We identified that the service had not acted on the findings of audits; had insufficient systems and process to assess security risks to clients and staff; did not maintain daily contemporaneous records for clients; had not identified or acted on environmental issues and had policies and procedures that were out of date or insufficient.

We issued a second warning notice under regulation 12 (safe care and treatment). We identified concerns in relation to medicines management processes and procedures including the completion of medicines reconciliation; administration and self-administration practices; record keeping and the appropriate monitoring of fridge temperatures.

We also issued two requirement notices under regulation 10 (privacy and dignity) and regulation 15 (premises and equipment).

Following the findings of this inspection and due to improvements made we are removing this service from special measures.

Updated 27 January 2020

We rated Littledale Hall Therapeutic Community as good overall because:

• The findings of this inspection mean the service is being removed from special measures. The service had taken actions to address concerns identified at our previous inspection. There was clear evidence that the service had improved.
• The service provided a safe rehabilitation service for individuals with substance misuse problems. The environment was safe, clean and supported recovery. The service had enough staff. Staff assessed and managed risks associated with the client base and rehabilitation well.
• The service was easy to access. Staff planned and managed discharge well and had alternative pathways for people whose needs it could not meet. The service had facilities and equipment to support the delivery of care. Staff managed privacy and dignity within shared dormitories appropriately. There was access to outside space.
• The service had taken steps to improve its governance. Staff knew and understood the provider’s vision and values and how they were applied in the work of their team. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They reported that the provider promoted equality and diversity in its day-to-day work and in providing opportunities for career progression. They felt able to raise concerns without fear of retribution.

However;

• Although the service had reviewed its policies and procedures it had not yet fully implemented them and staff had not yet completed all relevant training.
• A management plan in place for a client with diabetes did not provide details or instruction for staff to follow if blood sugar levels were outside of the normal range.

Updated 25 April 2017

Inspected but not rated - see main summary