The Glade Sexual Assault Referral Centre-Bransford

On this page

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

We assessed 2 quality statements under the effective key question. Patients’ needs were comprehensively assessed, and their care and treatment were delivered in line with best practice. Staff appropriately sought their patients consent throughout their treatment and respected their wishes.

Find out what we look at when we assess this area in our information about our new Single assessment framework.

We reviewed patient records during the inspection which demonstrated that staff completed detailed assessments of patients’ health, care and well-being and provided a good standard of care and treatment.

All patients received a pre-examination assessment prior to their forensic medical examination. An aftercare assessment was also completed to cover any identified ongoing needs. The comprehensive assessments patients received included a review of their physical and mental health, sexual health, substance misuse and safeguarding. Patients were fully assessed for risk factors such as domestic abuse and non-fatal strangulation so that any concerns could be identified, and the records showed that when vulnerability and risk were identified, the risk was assessed and acted upon with appropriate referrals to other support agencies.

The provider had a process in place to flag patients who attended the SARC frequently. These patients had specific care plans documented to ensure a co-ordinated and consistent approach to managing their needs. Self-harm risk assessments were completed for patients to identify support needs when they left the service, and where patients had children or were a young adult, additional safeguarding assessments were undertaken in relation to their social care history, household composition, education and ability to give consent.

The provider used clinical screening tools to identify anyone who might be experiencing withdrawal from drugs or alcohol, and a small amount of alcohol was kept on site to address any acute withdrawal needs.

Staff followed local referral pathways to support patients’ holistic needs. The records we reviewed showed that appropriate onward referrals were made in a timely manner to agencies such as independent sexual violence advisors, GPs, counselling services and genitourinary medicine clinics. We also saw evidence of communication between SARC staff and social workers or mental health teams to ensure a joined-up approach to the patients’ care and share risk information. All patient referrals were documented on an electronic system and were reviewed daily so that staff could ensure they had been received and actioned.

A range of information was available for patients to take away from the SARC including details of the treatment they had received, any medicines given and local support services for any ongoing needs.

The judgement for Delivering evidence-based care and treatment is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.

The judgement for How staff, teams and services work together is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.

The judgement for Monitoring and improving outcomes is based on the latest evidence we assessed for the Effective key question.

Staff we spoke with demonstrated a good understanding of mental capacity and the need to gain informed consent from patients. Records included prompts for staff to fully assess a patient’s consent prior to undertaking any treatment as well as reminders to review consent with the patient throughout their time at the SARC. The provider had clear guidelines in place for staff to follow if they felt a patient lacked the capacity to consent to their treatment.