The Sussex Beacon

Updated 16 March 2022

The Sussex Beacon is operated by The Sussex Beacon.

The Sussex Beacon is in Brighton and provides intermediate, continuing care and rehabilitation services for adults of any gender or identity who are living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The service primarily serves the communities of Sussex. It also accepts patient referrals from outside this geographical area. During the pandemic, the service redesigned some of its care pathways to support the wider healthcare system. This meant the service could take referrals for intermediate, palliative and end of life care for patients who did not HIV on an on-demand basis.

The service has a registered manager, who has been in in post since 2018, and is registered to provide the following regulated activities:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures

• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The service was last inspected in 2016 under a different methodology and was rated outstanding overall.

The service has a 10 bedded inpatient unit, offers day care services, provides peer support and individual casework and monthly health-focused group meet-ups for women and families. This report focuses on the inpatient unit and the day care services as they are the regulated activities we cover.

Between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021, the inpatient unit had 149 admissions. The majority of people using the service during this period were white British males aged between 50 and 69.

We carried out a short notice announced inspection on 9 November 2021 using our comprehensive inspection methodology.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we ask the same five questions of all services: are they safe, effective, caring, responsive to people's needs, and well-led? Where we have a legal duty to do so we rate services’ performance against each key question as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

Updated 16 March 2022

Updated 16 March 2022

Our rating of this service stayed the same. We rated it as outstanding because:

• The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff understood how to protect patients from abuse, and managed safety well.
• The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to patients, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well.
• Staff followed systems and processes when safely prescribing, administering, recording and storing medicines.
• Staff provided good care and treatment, gave patients enough to eat and drink, and gave them pain relief when they needed it.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
• Staff treated patients with compassion and kindness, respected their privacy and dignity, took account of their individual needs, and helped them understand their conditions. They provided emotional support to patients, families and carers.
• The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of patients’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it.
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills.
• Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work. Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of patients receiving care.
• Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with patients and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.

However:

• Staff did not receive safeguarding training in line with national guidance.
• The service did not have frailty and mental health input into their medicines optimisation.
• The service should continue to support staff to keep up to date with their mandatory training.
• The service should ensure they have a process for independent review of complaints.