Background to this inspection
Updated
13 October 2023
Developing Active Young Minds is a private practice specialising in child autism and ADHD assessments in the Coventry & Warwickshire area, however also covers North Oxfordshire and South Leicestershire.
Services include:
Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment of Child Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood Depression and Anxiety.
Assessment, Diagnosis and Advice on Autistic Spectrum Condition in Children
The registered manager is a Psychiatric Specialist Prescribing Nurse with a background working with children and young people who have struggled with mental ill health or neurological conditions such as Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He is a Non-Medical Prescriber (V300) and can diagnose ASC (diagnosis verified and supported by a Doctor of Psychology as per NICE guidelines), ADHD, Mood disorders and co-morbidities of these conditions/illnesses. He can also prescribe psychotropic medications if they are appropriate.
The registered manager works on his own from a small base office in Stratford. No patients are seen there as assessments are carried out during home visits or within a school. The registered manager confirmed his current caseload is of approximately 80 children and young people across the 3 areas and there is not a waiting list as the books are closed when capacity is reached. He works at the base on Monday and Friday only and is out travelling and carrying out assessments Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He also carries out some phone consultations.
Updated
13 October 2023
This service is rated as
Good
overall.
The key questions are rated as:
Are services safe? – Good
Are services effective? – Good
Are services caring? – Outstanding
Are services responsive? – Good
Are services well-led? – Good
We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Developing Active Young Minds as part of our ongoing comprehensive mental health inspection programme. It was carried out as an announced inspection because the Registered Manager was not on site 5 days a week due to carrying out assessments at various locations.
This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in July 2021 to provide treatment of disease, disorder or injury by the prescribing of medication and has never been inspected.
Mr Mark Wretham is the registered manager who is also the registered provider. 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.
What people told us:
We spoke with 14 families and carers and 3 others (doctor, nurse and headteacher) all of who spoke very highly of the Registered Manager and the services provided. Comments such as ‘It’s a life saver service,’ ‘He is like Father Christmas,’ ‘ He is a lovely person, so kind caring, professional working with neurodivergent children and is not in it for the money as he puts so much energy and time into his work,’ ‘provides lots of ongoing support at no cost and he genuinely cares.’
Our key findings were:
The registered manager conducted safety risk assessments and had appropriate safety policies, which were regularly reviewed. They outlined clearly where to go to for further guidance.
The service had systems to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from abuse. The service had systems in place to assure that an adult accompanying a child had parental authority.
Patients received coordinated and person-centred care. The registered manager referred to, and communicated effectively with, other services when appropriate.The registered manager completed a thorough and comprehensive assessment of patients and prior to the assessment, information was collected from schools, GPs and any other services involved in the patients care.
The registered manager received excellent feedback from patients. We reviewed 98 online reviews and feedback from 15 families or carers we contacted, all of whom were very positive about the service provided and felt there needed to be more of the registered manager as he worked so well with children and young people.
We saw evidence of excellent 5 star rating feedback received by the service and specifically of the registered manager and the care and treatment provided.
Openness, honesty and transparency were demonstrated at all times. The registered manager was aware of and had systems to ensure compliance with the requirements of the duty of candour.
The registered manager encouraged and heard views and concerns from the public, patients, school staff and external partners and acted on them to shape services and culture.
The registered manager was passionate about working with children and young people and had gone above and beyond in providing ongoing support and also free follow up appointments to patients.
Our inspection team:
Our inspection team was led by a CQC lead inspector. The team included a CQC Operations Manager, a team inspector, a specialist adviser and an expert by experience.
The inspection was led by a CQC inspector who had access to advice from a specialist advisor.