Kairos Community Trust

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

At our last assessment we rated effective as good. At this assessment the rating has remained good. This meant people’s outcomes were consistently good, and people’s feedback confirmed this.

We have not awarded this service a score for Effective.

Find out about when we will not publish a key question score and what we look at when we assess Effective.

The service made sure people’s care and treatment was effective by assessing and reviewing their health, care, wellbeing and communication needs with them.

Clients told us their needs were assessed and planned for before they moved to the service.

We reviewed 8 client care records. Staff completed comprehensive assessments which included a pre-admission assessment. Staff developed care plans that met the needs identified during assessment. Staff supported clients to establish recovery goals. Care plans were holistic, personalised, incorporated individual goals and recovery-orientated. These were regularly reviewed and updated in response to changes in clients’ needs. Where appropriate, assessments included family involvement and other support networks.

Clients told us they had regular one-to-one sessions with staff where they were able to discuss their individual needs, recovery plan and any extra support they required.

The service planned and delivered people’s care and treatment with them, including what was important and mattered to them. They did this in line with legislation and current evidence-based good practice and standards.

Staff provided a range of care and treatment interventions suitable for the client group. The interventions were those recommended by and were delivered in line with national guidance. The service provided a 12-step abstinence-based rehabilitation programme for people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. This was enhanced by additional therapeutic activities, including group therapy, meditation, acupuncture, massage, yoga, family therapy, peer support and individual counselling.

Clients were expected to follow the service’s ethos of mutual respect, shared responsibility and communal living, which included participation in activities such as shared cooking and cleaning. Staff also provided practical support where required, including help with finances, benefits, housing needs and developing positive social networks.

Staff made sure that people received appropriate support to meet their physical health needs. They worked closely with GP practices and community health services to facilitate access to relevant healthcare. Physical health checks were completed by the GP surgery, and staff supported people to arrange and attend these appointments to help them maintain their wellbeing.

Staff assessed and met clients’ needs for food and drink. People were supported to plan and prepare meals on a rota basis. This was part of the therapeutic programme. They were encouraged to make healthy choices and to learn new skills when preparing food.

Staff participated in audits. The service carried out regular audits of medicine administration records, clients’ record folders, care plans and client satisfaction questionnaires. The findings of these audits were discussed in team meetings.

Staff were appropriately experienced and had the skills and knowledge required to support the client group. The staff team used their lived experience of substance misuse to support the clients.

Managers provided new staff with appropriate induction.

Managers supported staff through team meetings and development opportunities.

Managers dealt with poor staff performance promptly and effectively.

The service worked well across teams and services to support people. They made sure people only needed to tell their story once by sharing their assessment of needs when people moved between different services.

Staff communicated effectively and worked well as a team. Staff held regular and effective team meetings. Information about clients was shared at daily handover meetings.

Staff worked effectively with internal teams, external agencies and partner organisations to support people’s care and recovery. They maintained positive and collaborative working relationships with external professionals, including local authority social care teams, charities and GPs, to ensure people received coordinated and consistent support. The manager also attended six weekly meetings with other service managers within the organisation, which helped promote shared learning, consistency of practice and effective oversight across services.

We spoke with two commissioners of the service who reported that they had excellent working relationships with the service. One commissioner told us ‘Always a hugely positive experience. They are communicative, professional, and consistently go the extra mile to ensure our clients are fully supported’. Another reported ‘I trust the work they do with my clients’.

The service supported people to manage their health and wellbeing to maximise their independence, choice and control. The service supported people to live healthier lives and where possible, reduce their future needs for care and support.

Staff supported clients to live healthier lives. For example, through participation in smoking cessation schemes, healthy eating advice and making referrals to their GP or other services to support them with managing any health risks and dealing with issues relating to substance misuse. For example, one client told us the staff had been exemplary in supporting them with a chronic condition which required regular appointments at the acute hospital another told us they had been signposted to a specialist mental health service.

The service routinely monitored people’s care and treatment to continuously improve it. They ensured that outcomes were positive and consistent, and that they met both clinical expectations and the expectations of people themselves.

Staff used recognised rating tools to assess people’s needs, monitor severity and track progress over time. The service completed National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) forms for everyone admitted, ensuring consistent recording of treatment activity and outcomes. Clients told us they reviewed their progress through feedback questionnaires, one‑to‑one sessions, morning peer meetings and care plan reviews.

The service also collected data on referrals that were refused, as well as all admissions and discharges. Managers monitored how many people successfully completed treatment and how many did not, to support oversight and identify areas for improvement.

We reviewed 8 care records and in all of them, consent and capacity was well documented.

Staff assessed people’s capacity and suitability before admission. Staff told us that assessment to access the service included a review of capacity and suitability to commit to the 12-week programme. People who had been assessed as lacking capacity in any area were not admitted to the service. Staff took all practical steps to enable clients to make their own decisions.