Via - New Beginnings - Brent

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

This means we looked for evidence that the service involved people and treated them with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

At our last assessment we rated this key question good. At this assessment the rating has remained good.

This meant people were supported and treated with dignity and respect and involved as partners in their care.

This service scored 75 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We saw staff across the service engaging very positively with clients during the inspection. Reception staff were attentive to clients waiting to be seen, ensuring that they felt welcome, and were not waiting too long. They were aware of the importance of making the first contact with the service a positive one.

Staff supported clients to understand and manage their care, treatment or condition. This included understanding people’s particular needs relating to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age and disability. Staff demonstrated a good knowledge and understanding of people’s needs. They told us about pairing clients who did not speak English with staff who spoke their first language.

Staff directed clients to other services when appropriate. There was information available in the waiting areas and corridors of the service. These services included legal advice centres, homelessness agencies, debts advice, groups that offered support with mindful drinking and a list of outdoor gyms in Brent. Records we reviewed showed that staff discussed with clients the range of services that they could access.

Staff said they could raise concerns about disrespectful, discriminatory or abusive behaviour or attitudes towards clients without fear of negative consequences.

The service had clear confidentiality policies in place that were understood and adhered to by staff. Staff maintained the confidentiality of information about clients.

We observed two groups facilitated by staff where clients engaged well and were supported to speak up about what was and was not helpful on the recovery day programme. We saw staff communicated positively with clients. Relationships between clients and staff were caring, respectful and supportive.

We spoke with 10 clients and 4 relatives of people using the service. Most provided very positive feedback about the service. They told us that staff were friendly, helpful, caring, accepting, non-judgemental, and generous with their time. They were offered regular appointments which were never rushed, felt listened to, and encouraged to develop. One client told us that the service was great for people recovering from problematic alcohol use, that staff enabled them to continue to manage problematic alcohol use, and that they felt listened to and involved in their care decisions. Another client told us that the service saved their life and that they would not be here without them.

Clients told us that groups were very good and they were encouraged to speak up and be themselves. They were offered the opportunity to join a taster session before committing to a programme. They could not think of things that could be improved at the service. One person told us that everything about the place was good for them.

Other clients told us that they could not ask for a better service, felt a warm welcome from the staff, that it was a pleasure to come to the service, and that they could always knock on someone’s door and get access to staff. They were very proud of their achievements with the service.

The service made adjustments for people in response to their needs, including those with a protected characteristic, mobility, or with communication support needs.

Staff demonstrated an understanding of the potential issues facing vulnerable groups, for example, LGBTQ+ people, people from ethnic minority groups, and people experiencing domestic abuse. The service had completed a LGBTQ+ toolkit to review how these needs could be met well. Staff demonstrated good knowledge of supporting and understanding supporting people with a range of characterises and needs.

The service created a woman only safe space to accommodate their individual needs. The service also provided a dedicated project to support women involved in sex working, named EVE. This project had a dedicated Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) outreach practitioner, who worked with underserved populations, including those in the South-Asian community. The BAME outreach practitioner supported the service to build and maintain partnerships with key stakeholders and community leaders.

Managers told us that they had identified need, they had introduced more specialist support including a Chemsex Lead (Chemsex is sexual activity under the influence of drugs), Women’s Lead and a lead for ethnic minority groups.

Staff arranged interpreter services as necessary for face to face and telephone appointments. In addition to this the staff team included multi-lingual staff.

The outreach team, made up of both Via staff and staff from the NHS partner trust, were able to support people with mobility issues who were unable to attend appointments at the site, or unable to afford travel costs to the service. Staff noted that home visits could be very helpful in providing holistic care and support to clients and their carers. The outreach team worked with the local community safety team, and a frequent attender group at the local general hospital, to engage with potential clients who might benefit from the service. They also attended food banks with clients when needed.

The service engaged with commissioners, social care, the voluntary sector, and the local community, to ensure services were planned, developed and delivered that met the needs of the local population including those in vulnerable circumstances.

Carers were able to access a family and friends’ group that lasted a period of 6 weeks and told us this was very helpful.

Managers we spoke to stated that treatment depends on what the client wanted support with. Staff made a plan to support them with what they wanted to achieve.

Clients we spoke with stated that they felt involved in their care. Staff stated that they supported clients to make decisions about their own care during meetings. Staff stated that they would decide with clients what the next steps will be and have a discussion surrounding it.

Staff attended daily meetings where they reviewed changing risks to clients. Staff provided an example of responding to clients’ needs. For example, a medical emergency occurred with someone collapsing staff responded appropriately.

All staff we spoke with stated that they felt supported by managers.

Staff we spoke with said that there were opportunities to develop within their roles. Staff said morale was positive. They said if they had any concerns they would be able to raise this with managers and they knew who the whistleblowing champion was.

The service had several initiatives in place to support staff wellbeing. This included an ‘offload session’, meditation after the morning check in and yoga for staff. This was a reflective practice session for staff facilitated by a team leader.

Managers we spoke to stated that they provided staff with an informal well-being strategy meeting to discuss what staff would like. They also provided staff with reflective practice where staff could provide feedback on their role. The provider also had a whistleblowing policy.

The provider had a comprehensive training programme.

Several staff had progressed from working as a volunteer at the service to a permanent employee.