Barnsley Recovery Steps

Updated 25 January 2019

Barnsley Recovery Steps is an independent substance misuse service provided by Humankind charity in Barnsley. The service is an integrated drug and alcohol recovery service that aims to support clients to recover from drug and alcohol dependency and reduce harm to people and those around them.

The service is commissioned by and provided on behalf of a local authority. It provides a range of services and support including: substitute medication for drugs, detoxification from alcohol or drugs, harm reduction and overdose prevention, blood testing and vaccinations for blood borne viruses, structured interventions, group work therapies, early intervention and prevention support including brief interventions, outreach and training. The service also facilitates access to treatment for Hepatitis C and specialist midwifery services.

The service operates across two sites. One is based close to the town centre of Barnsley and the other in East Barnsley in the Goldthorpe area. Clients can access the service between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. On Thursdays, the central service opens until 7pm.

Humankind charity became the provider of this service in April 2017. In April 2018, Barnsley Recovery Steps was registered with the CQC as its own location. The provider is registered to provide treatment for disease, disorder or injury regulated activity. The service has a registered manager.

The location has not been inspected by CQC previously.

Updated 25 January 2019

We rated Barnsley Recovery Steps as good because:

• The service had a strong and positive culture. Staff were committed to delivering a service that was inclusive, non-judgemental and caring. The feedback from clients was universally positive about the service and the staff that worked there. The service sought feedback from clients and acted upon this to improve the service. Clients had been involved in co-producing the provider’s vision, mission and values.
• It was very clean and well-maintained and had a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
• Governance systems and processes assessed, monitored and improved the quality and safety of the service. Systems and processes were not over burdensome for staff to generate information required on performance. The incident reporting and management system was robust and reports were developed to identify trends and learning from incidents. Most of the issues that we identified had been identified by the provider and leaders had a plan in place to address these.
• The service had strong links with external organisations. They provided a hospital liaison service, specialist midwifery, had increased the uptake of hepatitis C treatment significantly and had set up a training skills exchange.
• Overall, mandatory training rates were high at 95%.
• Staff understood their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding adults and children at risk and carried these out.

However:

• Clients care plans and risk assessments did not fully reflect the personalised and holistic care and treatment that was delivered in practice and was documented in other parts of clients’ care and treatment records.
• The service’s environmental risk assessments did not consider the risk of potential ligature anchor points.