Sefton Park

Updated 17 May 2019

Sefton Park provides residential rehabilitation services for clients with drug and alcohol problems. It is based within a grade two listed building. It is a standalone service that opened in 1992. The current provider has been in charge since 2003.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered the service in 2010. The CQC registered it to provide accommodation for persons requiring treatment for substance misuse and treatment for disease, disorder or injury. Sefton Park is able to provide treatment for up to 28 clients. At the time of our inspection, 22 clients were receiving treatment. The service accepts clients who are funded privately and by local authorities.

Staff assess clients in person prior to admission and using the information provided to formulate an individual care programme to meet their needs. This includes five stages of treatment and comprises of a comprehensive timetable of activities and psychological therapies. The service provides detoxification from opiates to a small number of clients at any one time. No clients were receiving opiate detoxification at the time of the inspection. Clients requiring alcohol detoxification are supported to access this from other providers before returning to Sefton Park for psychosocial treatment.

CQC inspected Sefton Park on 30 November 2016. There were no regulatory breaches. However, it was found that the service did not have effective systems in place to ensure staff training was completed in a timely manner.

Updated 17 May 2019

We rated Sefton Park as outstanding because:

• The staff had an overwhelming passion for the work they did. Staff were highly motivated to involve clients in their care and empower clients to have a voice and realise their potential. The culture of care ran throughout the organisation from the provider to the kitchen staff. Clients spoke highly of the care they received from staff, the registered manager and the provider. The provider fostered a caring recovery community amongst clients past and present. They hosted weekly community walks where previous clients, now in recovery, offered hope to current clients. The provider also organised a weekly coffee morning for previous clients to drop in and access peer support around any issues they were facing and to share successes.
• Staff supported clients to plan for their discharge from Sefton Park. Discharge planning began from the beginning of treatment episodes and staff created resettlements plans with clients to ensure there was support in place when they left. The service provided aftercare to all clients. Clients had access to a 28-day intensive support program after discharge from Sefton Park and access to regular support groups indefinitely. Clients could repeat the 28-day program at any time. The provider offered sponsored beds, free of charge, to clients whose funding had run out and had nowhere to go or clients who required longer residential treatment. This prevented any clients from becoming homeless or discharged when they weren’t ready.
• Staff managed opiate detoxification safely. Prescribing staff had appropriate qualifications and experience to undertake their roles. Staff assessed clients for suitability for detoxification prior to admission and clients received a full prescribing assessment on the day of admission. Prescribing regimes were in line with “Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management (2017)” and relevant National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. Staff monitored withdrawal symptoms effectively and were knowledgeable about what actions to take if a client’s health deteriorated during detoxification.
• Clients’ individual needs and preferences were central to the planning and delivery of care. Staff fully involved clients as active partners in their care. Care plans reflected clients’ individual preferences and clients’ voices were intrinsic to the care plan review process. Care plans contained clients’ goals and creative solutions to achieve these goals. The service held service user forums to provide clients with an opportunity to give feedback on service delivery and discuss potential changes to the service. Clients could give feedback on the service through formal feedback forms provided at the end of each treatment phase.
• Clients had access to a range of evidence based therapies. This included one to one counselling and eye movement desensitisation and reprogramming (EMDR) and a group program based on cognitive behavioural therapy and dialectical behavioural therapy. Clients could access relapse prevention work and complementary therapies, such as auricular acupuncture.
• Staff managed medicines safely. Medicines were stored at the correct temperature and stock was regularly audited. Staff checked that medicines brought in by clients were prescribed for them. Staff were trained to administer medicines and their competency was regularly assessed.
• The registered manager had suitable governance processes in place. There were effective systems to ensure that staff training was up to date. The system automatically flagged when training was due to expire and populated training requirements by job role. Staff checked the training weekly, recorded additional information, such as when training had been booked, and reported any necessary actions to the registered manager. Effective governance systems were also in place for reviewing policies, procedures, incidents and complaints. Senior staff met regularly in governance meetings and shared actions with the team in wider team meetings. Managers reviewed incidents and complaints for themes and trends and made changes to service provision in response.

Updated 17 May 2019

Sefton Park is a residential rehabilitation service for substance misuse.