Brookdell House

On this page

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

Staff were polite, respectful, supportive, and responsive when caring for clients. Staff understood and respected the individual needs of each client.

Staff gave clients and their relatives help, emotional support and advice when they needed it.

Staff involved clients, and relatives where appropriate, in their care planning.

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.

The 15 clients we spoke with said staff treated them with dignity and respect. They stated that staff showed them understanding and were kind to them. During our assessment we observed interactions between clients and staff. These were consistently positive, with staff always being polite and respectful.

Clients told us they were always given options about their treatment and that all aspects of their care were explained. Clients said they could also access other support services, such as other agencies supporting addictions to drugs and alcohol. One client told us that they had never been able to complete written work and when they entered the service, they doubted they had the ability to complete the programme. Staff had supported them outside of the group work and they had recently prepared and delivered their life story to the group. They told us this was a major achievement and could only have been achieved because of the kindness and compassion of the staff.

Staff ensured that clients could obtain information on treatments, local services, how to complain and other topics. Information could be produced in a variety of formats to meet people’s needs, such as other languages.

Managers ensured that staff and clients had easy access to interpreters and signers when required. The service had supported a client whose first language was not English.

Clients were involved in deciding the day-to-day running of the premises, drawing up rotas and deciding who was responsible for what tasks. Clients told us they were all aware that they were trusted by the service to conform to the rules and expected other clients to report any occasions where these rules were broken. They told us there was no conflict between them. They gave feedback on the design of the 12-week programme through the weekly community meetings.

Staff involved clients, and relatives where appropriate, in their care planning. All relatives we spoke to were involved in their loved one’s care and treatment where consent was given. This was also clearly documented in care plans. Staff made sure clients understood their care and treatment. Clients we spoke with generally felt informed about their recovery plan. They described how they had received information about their recovery plan and that they were involved in reviews of that plan. They reported that, where appropriate, their family, carers or loved ones were involved in meetings about their care.

Staff recognised that clients needed to have access to, and links with, their advocacy and support networks in the community and they supported clients to do this. They ensured that clients had easy access to additional support. Staff displayed a range of information for clients around the service about other organisations and supported clients to access other support, such as housing and benefits, when needed.

The service empowered and supported access to advocacy and mutual aid in the community. Each client had a recovery plan and risk management plan that demonstrated their preferences for recovery goals. Recovery plans demonstrated client involvement.

Clients valued their relationships with the staff team and felt that they often exceeded expectations when providing care and support. Staff informed and involved families and carers appropriately. Clients told us that the service had responded to different risks as clients explored often emotionally challenging issues.

Clients were supported to maintain contact with families and in many cases to regain contact after relationships had broken down. Visits were encouraged, with facilities for children to visit.

Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They gave positive feedback about their roles and were proud to work for the organisation.

Staff sickness and turnover rates were low.

The service had a strong culture in which lived experience was valued. Staff and leaders told us about the caring and non-judgmental approach to supporting colleagues in recovery.