The Care Quality Commission
  • Mental Health
  • Independent mental health service

Outpatient Services

Overall: Good read more about inspection ratings

Billing Road, Northampton, Northamptonshire, NN1 5DG (01604) 616050

Provided and run by:
St Andrew's Healthcare

All Inspections

During an assessment of Community-based mental health services for adults of working age

We assessed St Andrew's Healthcare Outpatient Services on 11 and 12 March 2025.

St Andrew's Healthcare Outpatient Service location was registered with the Care Quality Commission on 31 January 2013. The service had a registered manager at the time of our inspection. The Outpatient Service location had an office base with treatment rooms on St Andrew's Healthcare Northampton site. This location is registered separately from the main inpatient divisions at St Andrew's Healthcare Northampton.

St Andrew's Healthcare Outpatient Service location provides the following services:

  • The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service is commissioned via Op COURAGE, an NHS mental health specialist service designed to help serving personnel due to leave the military, reservists, veterans and their families. It brings together 3 services previously known as: Veterans Mental Health Transition, Intervention and Liaison Service (TILS), Veterans Mental Health Complex Treatment Service (CTS) and Veterans Mental Health High Intensity Service (HIS). It supports people of any age who have served in any of the armed forces at any time, for any duration. Op COURAGE can help with common problems like anxiety, depression and substance misuse, as well as more advanced mental health conditions and psychological trauma. It can also help address other issues that may be affect wellbeing, such as housing, finances and relationships, and can provide support to families too. Each member of the team has either a military background or experience working with the armed forces community.
  • The Assertive Transitions Service (ATS) supports people to transition from secure in-patient mental health care services into the community across Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. The service provides enhanced ward in-reach and integrated community support delivered by 2 multidisciplinary teams in the north and the south of the East Midlands region. The service work with patients, their families, existing care teams and community providers, such as supported-living organisations, to proactively overcome many of the barriers which patients transitioning from secure care face.
  • The Criminal Justice Service is commissioned to provide screening/assessment in court. The purpose is to support the service user and in doing so have a positive impact on reducing reoffending. The interventions are specifically designed for offender's post sentence and aim to address mental health issues and offending behaviour.
  • Outpatient and Community Services primarily offering private therapies and more recently supporting NHS trusts with mental health assessments for autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or tailored psychological therapies.

St Andrew's Healthcare Outpatients is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

  • Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

This service was last inspected in December 2021 under the Care Quality Commission's previous methodology. At that inspection the service was rated good overall, with Requires Improvement in Safe. Requirement notices were issued due to the following concerns:

  • Staff had not recorded action taken following a service user presenting as high risk at the Outpatient and Community service.
  • Managers had not ensured all staff completed basic life support and immediate life support training.

We conducted a comprehensive, unannounced inspection. We assessed 1 assessment service group; Community-based mental health services for adults of working age to review the progress made against the requirement notices. At this inspection, we found that work had been completed to address these concerns, and we were satisfied that the risks posed by these concerns had reduced.

During an assessment of the hospital overall

At this inspection, we rated the service good. We rated the service as good because:

  • The service is safe, well-governed, and clinically sound, with embedded systems for safeguarding, incident management, and continuity of care that reflect best practice and learning.
  • People receive personalised, trauma-informed support from skilled practitioners who adapt care to individual needs, identities, and circumstances, underpinned by a strong therapeutic ethos.
  • Clinical governance is effective and proportionate, with regular audits, supervision, and outcome monitoring in place to support service delivery and drive continuous improvement.
  • The service demonstrates inclusive, values-led leadership, fostering a positive culture where staff feel heard, supported, and enabled to perform safely and compassionately.
  • The service operates within a clear and consistent clinical framework, underpinned by strong systems, reflective practice, and a culture that supports personalised care and timely, needs-led interventions.

People told us they consistently experience timely, respectful, and coordinated care, with strong links to external partners and feedback systems that inform meaningful service development.

Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act Compliance

Staff were trained in and had a good understanding of the Mental Health Act, the Code of Practice and the guiding principles. The provider had relevant policies and procedures that reflected the most recent guidance. Staff had had training in the Mental Capacity Act. Staff had a good understanding of the Mental Capacity Act, in particular the five statutory principles. Staff took all practical steps to enable patients to make their own decisions

7, 9, 13, 17 and 20 December 2021

During a routine inspection

This was the first rated inspection of this service. We rated it as good because:

  • The service provided safe care. Clinical premises where service users were seen were safe and clean. The number of service users on the caseload of the teams, and of individual members of staff, was not too high to prevent staff from giving each service user the time they needed. Staff managed waiting lists well to ensure service users who required urgent care were seen promptly. Staff assessed and managed risk well and followed good practice with respect to safeguarding.
  • Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment and in collaboration with families and carers for most patients. They provided a range of treatments that were informed by best-practice guidance and suitable to the needs of the service users. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
  • The teams included or had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of the service users. Managers ensured these staff received training, supervision and appraisal. Staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and with relevant services outside the organisation.
  • Staff treated service users with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, and understood the individual needs of service users. They actively involved service users and families and carers in care decisions.
  • The service was easy to access. Staff assessed and treated service users who required urgent care promptly and those who did not require urgent care did not wait too long to start treatment. The criteria for referral to the service did not exclude service users who would have benefitted from care.
  • The service was well led and the governance processes ensured the procedures relating to the work of the service ran smoothly.
  • Managers and staff engaged actively with other local health and social care providers to ensure an integrated health and care system was commissioned and provided to meet the needs of the local population. Staff were continually improving and innovating to improve the service.

However:

  • Staff had not recorded action taken following a service user presenting as high risk at the Outpatient and Community service.
  • Managers had not ensured all staff completed basic life support and immediate life support training.
  • Staff at the Assertive Transitions service had not recorded if they offered a copy of care plans to service users.

27 February 2014

During a routine inspection

We spoke with three patients who told us they were provided with information by the service to enable them to make informed choices about their treatment.

Patients expressed their views and were involved in making decisions about their care and treatment. One patient told us, "My doctor does not rush me; I know they have a set time to meet with patients, but they do not clock-watch'.

We saw the Consultancy Service worked collaboratively with other agencies. For example, with patient's GP's. We also saw there was regular correspondence with the person who had referred the patient including within one week of the first appointment up until discharge.

We found the Consultancy Service was lead effectively. We saw that all aspects of the services provided had a structured format of quality monitoring and review.