Eaglescliffe Health Centre

Updated 16 January 2020

Eaglescliffe Health Centre, Sunningdale Drive, Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees, TS16 9EA is a location of Hartlepool and Stockton Health Ltd (the Provider) and is where they provide the service known as Footsteps Teen Health clinic. The service is a collaboration between Eaglescliffe Medical Practice, Stockton Borough Council and Tees Esk and Wear Valley hospital trust following identification of an increased demand and consequent shortfall in provision of mental health and wellbeing services for young people in the local area.

Footsteps Teen Health clinic is a ‘one stop shop’ clinic within a primary care setting for young people aged 11-19 who are experiencing low level mental health or wellbeing needs, including sexual health and contraception advice. The service is registered with the Care Quality Commission for the regulated activities of diagnostic and screening procedures and treatment of disease, disorder or injury. There are two GPs, a lead counsellor, trainee counsellors, youth workers, a psychologist a practice manager and telephone and administrative staff. The service can be accessed by young people within the local catchment area and also operates a walk-in service. The service is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3.30pm – 6.30pm.

The project has won a British Medical Journal award and Royal College of GP poster award for its innovative and effective approach. The service is a pilot and has been extended to the end of March 2020 following initial positive evaluation of its effectiveness.

How we inspected this service

We gathered and reviewed information before the inspection from stakeholders including the Clinical Commissioning Group, Healthwatch, and from notifications sent in to the Care Quality Commission.

During the inspection we talked to people using the service, interviewed staff, made observations and reviewed documents.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?
• Is it effective?
• Is it caring?
• Is it responsive to people’s needs?
• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 16 January 2020

We rated effective as Outstanding as there was a truly holistic approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment to all people who used the service.

We rated caring as Outstanding as people were truly respected and valued as individuals and were empowered as partners in their care, practically and emotionally, by an exceptional and distinctive service.

We rated responsive as Outstanding because there were innovative approaches to providing integrated person-centred pathways of care that involved other service providers.

We rated well-led as Outstanding because the provider had a highly developed ethos of patient and staff wellbeing underpinned with a clear strategic focus for the development of excellence.

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Footsteps Teen Health Clinic at Eaglescliffe Health Centre as part of our inspection programme.

Footsteps Teen Health Clinic is a service offering young people between the ages of 11 and 19 access to a ‘one-stop shop’ model of support for their mental health and wellbeing concerns, including contraception and sexual health.

Management and clinical oversight of the service is provided by Hartlepool and Stockton Health Ltd.

The clinical director of Hartlepool and Stockton Health Ltd is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the service is run.

We obtained feedback through comment cards and discussion, 20 people provided feedback about the service. We also looked at evidence from the service from patient and stakeholder feedback.

During the inspection we reviewed a range of systems and processes relating to governance, service delivery and customer care.

Our key findings were :

At this inspection we found:

• The service had clear systems to manage risk so that safety incidents were less likely to happen. When incidents did happen, the service learned from them and improved their processes.
• The service consistently reviewed the effectiveness and appropriateness of the care it provided. It ensured care and treatment was delivered according to evidence based guidelines.
• Feedback from patients who used the service, those close to them and external stakeholders was continually positive about the way staff cared for patients.
• Patients found the appointment system easy to use and reported access to appointments was good, staff confirmed this.
• Leaders had the capacity and skills to deliver high-quality, sustainable care. They had an inspiring shared purpose, strived to deliver and motivated staff to succeed.
• Staff told us they felt supported and engaged with managers and there was a strong focus on continuous learning and improvement at all levels of the organisation.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

• The approach to assessing, planning and delivering care and treatment to all people who use services was truly holistic. There was consistent evidence of effectiveness and demand for the service from partners, stakeholders and young people. The service made use of innovative and pioneering approaches to care and how it was delivered and actively encouraged this. The service had identified a gap in provision for services in the local area.
• People were truly respected and valued as individuals and were empowered as partners in their care, practically and emotionally. The service had collaborated and engaged with young people and stakeholders to develop a solution.
• People’s individual needs and preferences were central to the delivery of tailored services. The service had young people at the forefront off all developments. There were innovative approaches to providing integrated person-centred pathways of care that involved other service providers.

• The leadership, governance and culture were used to drive and improve the delivery of high-quality person-centred care.