13 December 2022
During a routine inspection
St Elizabeth's Health Agency provides intensive epilepsy, health and therapeutic support to children and young people with a learning disability using the centre’s services. Nurse led clinics are also run for younger people who use the school, college and the children's care home on site. St Elizabeth’s Health Agency provide nursing care to 22 children and young people at the time of the inspection.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
Right support
Children and young people were safe and protected from potential abuse because the staff knew how to identify and report any concerns relating to the risk of abuse. Risks to their health, safety and well-being were assessed, and measures were put in place to remove or reduce the risks. Children and young people were supported by nurses who had been safely recruited.
Nurses supported children and young people to make decisions about their health and wellbeing by following the correct legislation. Nurses communicated with the children and young people in ways that met their needs. for example, using social stories. Nurses supported children and young people to play an active role in maintaining their own health and wellbeing
Right care
Children and young people had a robust assessment to help ensure their needs and preferences could be met. Care plans were developed from these assessments for each identified need.
Nurses protected and respected children and young people’s privacy and dignity. They understood and responded to their individual health needs.
The nurses knew the young people and children well and were able to promptly identify when their needs changed, supporting them to get the right medical help they needed.
Right culture
The provider needed to develop a robust governance system to ensure that the nurses were working in line with best practice and that there was enough skilled managerial oversight of the service. The registered manager did not have clinical direction from the provider and quality checks were not being made by the provider. This was something the registered manager was starting to develop with the provider.
External professionals and care workers said the nurses and the management team were always available and supportive.
The management team was committed to providing good quality nursing care to the children and young people they supported, (as well as the support to their care workers, ) and understood their responsibilities under the Duty of Candour to be open and honest with the everyone they supported.
Risk assessments were in place in most cases, which identified risks children and young people faced and how nurses should manage these. There were further developments required where not all health needs were identified in the risk assessment; however, nurses were aware of these health conditions.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 10 October 2020 and this is the first inspection. We conducted a targeted inspection published 03 August 2022, however, we did not rate the service at that inspection.
Why we inspected
This inspection was prompted by a review of the information we held about this service.
Enforcement and Recommendations
We have identified a recommendation that the provider reviews the internal clinical oversight for the service.
Please see the action we have told the provider to take at the end of this report.
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.