St Anne's Community Services - Alcohol Services

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• Overview
• Kindness, compassion and dignity
• Treating people as individuals
• Independence, choice and control
• Responding to people’s immediate needs
• Workforce wellbeing and enablement

This means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last inspection we rated this key question outstanding. At this inspection the rating has changed to good. This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect; and involved as partners in their care. They respected clients’ privacy and dignity. They truly understood the individual needs of clients and supported clients to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition. Staff involved clients in care planning and risk assessment and actively sought their feedback on the quality of care provided. Staff informed and involved families and carers appropriately.

We have not awarded this service a score for Caring.

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

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service always treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion and respected their privacy and dignity. Staff treated colleagues from other organisations with kindness and respect.

The service treated people with kindness, empathy and compassion. Client feedback about staff was very positive. All staff were discreet and responsive when caring for clients. Staff took time to interact with clients and those close to them in a respectful and considerate way.

Staff understood and respected the individual needs of each client and showed understanding and a non-judgmental attitude when caring for or discussing clients.

Clients told us they felt they could speak openly to staff and tell them about issues related to their substance misuse, issues related to their home life, finances or any other concerns they had. One client told us: “Staff are very understanding, very helpful”. Another client told us: “Staff go above and beyond”. Several clients described the service, and the support they received from staff as being a “lifesaver”.

Clients told us that when they had issues within their home or personal life, staff would signpost them to other services, or where they were able to support directly, they did so, for example, liaising with housing support or social services.

Clients described staff as polite, non-judgemental and supportive. They told us that staff always maintained a positive outlook.

All clients said staff treated them well and with kindness. They said they received strong encouragement from staff to remain abstinent during group and individual sessions and during one-to-one time.

We observed staff and client interactions throughout the inspection, and these were all very positive. We saw that staff knew the clients well and appeared at ease when interacting with them. We observed staff showing clients genuine compassion and understanding.

We observed a group session and saw that the staff facilitator led the session in a very welcoming, open and friendly manner. They allowed each client to share their views and feelings and treated them with kindness, warmth and empathy.

All staff we spoke with were passionate and committed to delivering good care. Staff and clients both fed back that they had built good therapeutic relationships, which they said formed a key part of their recovery.

We spoke with external stakeholders who told us staff always treated them with kindness and respect and that they observed staff treating clients in the same way.

Staff followed policy to keep client care and treatment confidential. Care records were stored securely, and documents were password protected. Clients disclosed personal information about themselves during group sessions and staff reminded everyone not to share this information with anyone else.

Staff recognised clients with mental health needs and ensured they received support from local mental health services.

The client group was diverse. Clients told us that staff understood and respected their personal, cultural, social and religious needs.

Both carers we spoke with provided positive feedback about the service. They told us staff showed a true kindness and understanding to the clients and said this approach made them feel that their loved ones were being well taken care of.

Staff said they could raise concerns about disrespectful, discriminatory or abusive behaviour or attitudes towards clients without fear of the consequences. No staff we spoke with told us they had needed to do so.

Staff maintained the confidentiality of information about clients.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service treated people as individuals and made sure people’s care, support and treatment met people’s needs and preferences. They took account of people’s strengths, abilities, aspirations, culture and unique backgrounds and protected characteristics.

The service treated people as individuals All clients told us staff offered them help, emotional support and advice when they needed it.

The service made adjustments for disabled clients. We heard an example of how staff had empowered a client with severe physical health and mobility needs to improve their fitness over a period of several months, resulting in them completing a 5k park run, together with the registered manager and other staff.

Another staff member had spent a considerable amount of time with a client who was reluctant to return home. They supported the client to attend their home to help clean it in preparation for their discharge. It was clear from staff and client interviews that staff knew clients very well and could adapt care and treatment to their meet individual needs.

Staff ensured that clients could obtain information on treatments, local services, clients’ rights, and how to complain. Staff signposted clients to supportive services within the community such as mutual aid groups and services offering psychosocial intervention strategies.

Clients had a choice of food to meet the dietary requirements of religious and ethnic groups and to account for allergies and intolerances. Staff ensured that clients had access to appropriate spiritual support and could provide examples of when they had done so.

Staff ensured recovery plans included their strengths, goals and any equality and diversity information pertaining to the client and how they wanted to be treated.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service promoted people’s independence, so people knew their rights and had choice and control over their own care, treatment and wellbeing

Staff offered clients alternative treatment options if they were unable to comply with specific treatment requirements of certain medicines. Staff and clients told us that they could access support from a nurse when needed.

Staff signposted clients to supportive services within the community such as mutual aid groups and services offering psychosocial intervention strategies.

Staff supported clients to maintain relationships and networks that were important to them. They supported clients’ access to their friends and family while they were using the service. Clients had time and space each evening to keep in touch with family and friends.

Staff completed ‘respect, understanding, trust and honesty’ forms with clients on admission to the rehabilitation service. Managers explained how this helped clients understand mutual expectations for group work and information sharing.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service listened to and understood people’s needs, views and wishes. Staff responded to people’s needs in the moment and acted to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress.

All clients told us that staff listened to and understood their needs, views and wishes. They provided examples of how staff were quick to respond to these and took action to minimise any discomfort, concern or distress. We heard positive stories from clients about how staff had supported them in times of emotional distress or that they had reminded them of the recovery plans and goals when they felt at risk of relapsing.

All clients told us that staff were aware to speak with them at short notice if they needed support, telling us staff went out of their way to help them in any way they could

Staff were aware of and dealt with any specific risk issues, such as physical or mental health concerns and care planned for these accordingly. It was clear that each client’s needs had been individually assessed and their care and treatment designed to meet each of their individual needs.

Staff identified and responded to changing risks to or posed by clients. Staff came together on a regular basis to ensure that they had the opportunity to share new and emerging risks and to advise each other how they might support clients and each other to meet people’s needs.

Staff worked with clients to develop unexpected events plans and relapse prevention strategies.

We scored the service as 3. The evidence showed a good standard. The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff, and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care.

The service cared about and promoted the wellbeing of their staff and supported and enabled staff to always deliver person-centred care. All the staff we spoke with told us they felt respected, supported and valued. Staff felt positive and proud about working for the provider and their team.

Staff reported that the leadership team was capable, compassionate and inclusive at all times, which supported their well-being and enabled them to deliver good quality care.

Staff we spoke told us that the felt listened to and were able to raise concerns which were acted upon in a professional way.

Staff told us that they had access to wellbeing services and internal debriefing and support sessions.

Managers confirmed they had enrolled on the NHS England Culture and Leadership Programme. This is a modular programme which provides opportunities for organisations to understand their own culture using evidence-based tools, develop leadership strategies and improve leadership and deliver culture change.

Staff had access to support for their own physical and emotional health needs through an occupational health service. Managers signposted staff to the employee assistance programme. They completed return to work forms with staff following absence.

The service’s staff sickness and absence levels were very low. The total staff sickness during the 12 months prior to inspection was 1.42%.

The provider recognised staff success within the service through staff awards. A registered nurse had recently won the organisation’s nurse of the year award. There were also awards for teams within the organisation that had performed well. The service acknowledged long term recognition at key milestones including 5, 10 and 20 years. The monthly newsletter contained celebrations and good news stories.

Staff told us appraisals included conversations about career development and how it could be supported.

The service employed many staff who had lived experience of substance misuse. They told us they were mindful of the specific support needs of staff who have had lived experience and told us they had set up a lived experience group for staff to share their experiences. This enabled them to share challenges they had experience throughout their recovery, discuss professional boundaries, and how to use their experience to best interact with clients.