Archived: New Writtle Street Also known as PCP Luton - 53 New Writtle Street

Updated 11 April 2022

New Writtle Street is a residential accommodation site used by PCP Chelmsford treatment centre. New Writtle Street only offers residence to clients who attend PCP Chelmsford for treatment. At the time of our inspection the location had applied for the manager to become registered. The location had a nominated individual. For full details of PCP Chelmsford treatment centre please see the report on the CQC website: http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-290374861

New Writtle Street provides accommodation for up to five clients who require treatment, including detoxification, for substance misuse at the PCP Chelmsford treatment centre. Clients may stay at New Writtle Street during their detoxification period depending on their assessment of needs. Clients attend and receive treatment at PCP Chelmsford including assisted withdrawal and detoxification programmes for clients addicted to alcohol or substances. The treatment centre at PCP Chelmsford offers one to one counselling, group therapy, 12-step groups and medication.

Staff at New Writtle Street complete evening and night shifts. Evening staff attend the treatment centre at PCP Chelmsford for a handover at the start of their shift. Staff transport clients to the accommodation site at New Writtle Street and transport clients back to the treatment centre at PCP Chelmsford in the morning. One staff completes the evening shift and provides a handover to the night staff who remains awake throughout the night to provide a supportive role to clients. There are no staff or clients at the accommodation site during the day. The service provides residential accommodation for male and female clients, the majority of whom are self-funded.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activity:

• Accommodation for persons who require treatment for substance misuse

The Care Quality Commission carried out a comprehensive inspection at this location in October 2018. We rated the location as requires improvement and found areas of concern in relation to the provider not assessing the risks of providing mixed sex accommodation, and staff training which we informed the provider they must take action on. Breaches of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 were identified for:

• Regulation 12 safe care and treatment
• Regulation 17 good governance.

The Care Quality Commission carried out a focussed inspection at the treatment centre; PCP Chelmsford in April 2021.Following this inspection, we rated the service as inadequate, and issued an urgent section 31 notice of decision to place conditions on the services registration. One of the conditions was that the provider must not admit any service users to New Writtle Street who require a new course of detoxification treatment from addictive substances without the prior written agreement of the Care Quality Commission.

The Care Quality Commission carried out a comprehensive inspection in March 2017 and did not identify any breaches of regulations. We did not rate the service at that time.

Due to the nature of this service, we were unable to speak with staff at the service, however we spoke to staff at PCP Chelmsford, who also work at new Writtle Street.

Following our inspection, the provider took the decision to close the service and deregister. All clients were either discharged or transferred to one of the provider’s other services.

What people who use the service say

We spoke to three clients and one carer of a client who was using the service over the telephone.

One client told us the service was not clean.

Two clients told us the service was understaffed.

One client told us they had been told in their initial assessment before being admitted to the service, that a doctor would be on site and available when needed but there had been times when they had asked to see a doctor and were not able to. We were told by one client that the doctor carried out a virtual assessment with new clients on admission.

One client told us staff helped them to access support for their physical and mental health needs.

All clients and the carer we spoke with told us that staff were great, there was always someone available to chat. Clients each had an assigned support worker who they could talk to and clients were encouraged to speak to friends and family.

Two clients told us the service were supposed to provide basic supplies such as milk, black bags and washing powder, but these were not supplied.

Two clients told us the house was not as advertised on the website or how managers described to them during their initial assessment prior to admission. Two clients told us that they had been advised prior to admission that they would have their own bathrooms, but once admitted they found out the service only had shared bathrooms. One client told us that prior to admission they were told they would have their own bedroom but have since been told they might have to share a room.

One client told us they had raised concerns about the service, but they had still not been resolved and managers had not responded to their concerns.

Updated 11 April 2022

New Writtle Street provides accommodation for up to five clients who require treatment, including detoxification, for substance misuse at the PCP Chelmsford treatment centre. Clients may stay at New Writtle Street during their detoxification period depending on their assessment of needs. Clients attend and receive treatment at PCP Chelmsford including assisted withdrawal and detoxification programmes for clients addicted to alcohol or substances. The treatment centre at PCP Chelmsford offers one to one counselling, group therapy, 12-step groups and medication.

Our rating of this location stayed the same. We rated it as requires improvement because:

• Staff did not always act to prevent or reduce risks despite knowing risks for each client. Staff were not observing clients in line with clients prescribed observation times or in accordance with the providers policy.
• Not all client risk assessments were regularly updated.
• Managers did not use results from audits to make improvements.
• The service did not have enough support staff to keep clients safe. Managers did not make appropriate arrangements to cover staff sickness and absence.
• Not all areas of the premises where clients received care were safe, well maintained or fit for purpose. The service did not adequately identify ligature risks or complete environment risk assessment tools appropriately.
• Managers did not ensure staff completed health and safety checks of the premises as required.
• The service did not manage client safety incidents well. Managers did not always recognise incidents and report them appropriately.
• Managers did not always make safeguarding referrals or report concerns appropriately. Not all client information was recorded securely.
• Managers did not support all staff through regular supervision of their work.
• Clients did not have access to basic provisions at the service.

However:

• Staff understood the individual needs of clients.
• The service complied with mixed sex accommodation guidance and there was now a female only toilet and shower.
• Medicines were stored securely at the service.
• Staff had completed and kept up to date with their mandatory training.
• Staff provided access to a range of care and treatment interventions suitable for the client group and consistent with national guidance on best practice.

Updated 11 April 2022

Our rating of this service went down. We rated it as inadequate.

See the summary above for details.

Updated 18 December 2018