Outpatient Services

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.