Casa Suite SARC

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• 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 systematically assessed and their care and treatment was delivered according to standards and evidence based practice. Staff understood the importance of seeking informed consent and always carefully explained to patients what their rights around consent were.

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

Patients attending the SARC received a comprehensive assessment of their needs including their mental and physical health, and post sexual assault health. Injuries and any findings seen during the forensic examination were clearly documented.

Recognised screening tools were used to assess the severity of alcohol and drug withdrawal symptoms, and a limited amount of alcohol was kept on site to administer to patients if they were experiencing acute alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

The risk of HIV and Hep B transmission, and pregnancy was fully assessed. Where indicated, patients were provided with emergency medical and sexual health treatments following national guidance or referred to specialist clinics. Forensic samples were taken based on the patient’s account of what had happened to them. Staff worked hard to ensure critical forensic timescales were met and any delay to patient care was closely monitored by managers each day.

Self-harm risk assessments were also completed for patients to identify support needs when they left the service. If anyone was identified at risk of harm, they were referred to the local crisis team and/or received a follow up phone call 48 hours after attending the SARC.

Patients who attended the SARC more that 3 times within 6 months had specific multi-disciplinary care plans implemented to ensure a co-ordinated and consistent approach to their needs.

The SARC had clear referral pathways in place to support patients’ holistic needs. Records showed that appropriate onward referrals to other agencies such as independent sexual violence advisors, GPs and genitourinary medicine clinics had been made. All patient referrals were then actively followed up by staff to ensure they had been received. Staff told us they had built up good relations with key local partners, allowing for effective transitions of care for patients.

A meeting was held every day to review each case that had been seen at the SARC and to ensure patients’ needs had been fully assessed, and the procedures had been followed correctly. The associate head of healthcare was informed of any shortfalls that had been identified so that follow up action could be taken. In addition to this, regular peer reviews were undertaken, allowing for a more in-depth review of the care and treatment delivered to patients by staff.

Staff routinely contacted patients at agreed intervals following their attendance at the SARC to monitor their well-being, identify any additional needs and ensure all referrals had been actioned

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.

It was clear that staff worked effectively to ensure patients understood the options available to them and facilitated their choices with care. Records we reviewed demonstrated that patients’ consent for their medical examination, the collection of forensic samples, for medicines, and use of intimate digital images had been fully sought. Staff repeatedly checked with patients throughout their forensic examination if they were happy to continue with it.

A crisis worker talked to us about the importance of empowering patients, and ensuring they had all the information needed to help them make informed decisions about their options. They stated that assessments and examinations were always completed at the patient’s preferred pace, and with their consent.

We found staff had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act and patients’ capacity to give informed consent was actively assessed, with clear guidelines in place for staff about what to do if this was in doubt.