Archived: Bournewood House

We reviewed five sets of records and we found that people were able to give consent to their care plan prior to any care being given. Staff told us that they checked with the person at each contact, to make sure that consent was still in place.

We found that the care plans were comprehensive, with chronological information about the initial referral, assessments and treatment progression. We noted that the plans were reviewed regularly, and changes made as necessary to ensure the plan met the needs of the person.

We reviewed the arrangements for information sharing and referral where people required more than one health care professional to be involved in their treatment. We found that there were good links with external health care professionals such as people's general practitioners, to ensure a seamless and coordinated service.

Staff told us that they were well supported in their roles. We reviewed four staff records and found evidence of continuous supervision and development of the staff.

We noted that the clinic manager carried out regular audits to monitor the quality of the service, and to ensure that the policies and procedures were being followed. We saw that feedback mechanisms were made available to people who use the service.

After the inspection we spoke with six patients who all told us that they thought the care that they received was 'Excellent' and that all of the staff were "lovely." They told us that they felt involved in the care that they received and all of the staff treated them with dignity and respect. One patient told us 'The staff are professional.'

The staff we spoke with had a good understanding of the safeguarding procedures and told us what they would do if they suspected abuse. All of the patients said that they felt safe when the staff came to visit them.

The service had appropriate recruitment procedures and kept up to date with the staffs professional registrations. The service also had good systems in place to monitor the quality assurance of the service that they gave.

All of the staff were required to complete an electronic progress note for each patient visited in addition to a note in their paper care plan. However we found that the electronic records were not always completed and the staff we spoke to confirmed this.