Oasis Project

Updated 29 November 2022

Oasis Project is a charity for women, children and families affected by drug and alcohol misuse. It is one of a number of organisations that work together to provide drug and alcohol treatment and recovery services to people living in Brighton and Hove and East Sussex.

Within the partnership, the role of Oasis Project is to coordinate the care and treatment of women referred to the service, and to provide psychosocial interventions for clients with substance misuse issues. The service is delivered from a building in the city centre, linked with other sites close by where young people and men can access support. Other organisations within the partnership provide different roles such as the provision of medical assessments and community and inpatient detox services. The service offers a screening for blood born viruses (BBVs), one-to-one care coordination and structured group work, including a specialist programme for parents whose children are open to social services due to risks around parental substance misuse. Parents accessing Oasis Project have access to a free creche which is a short walk from the service.

The service is registered to provide the following regulated activities: Treatment of disease, disorder and injury.

There was a registered manager in post at the time of the inspection.

We last inspected the Brighton Oasis Project in July 2019, when the service was rated Good. In 2019 the service was re-branded and is now known as Oasis Project, as it also delivers support to people who live outside Brighton.

We undertook this inspection as part of a random selection of services which have had a recent Direct Monitoring Approach (DMA) assessment where no further action was needed. This enables the CQC to seek assurance about this DMA decision and to evaluate the effectiveness of the DMA process.

Updated 29 November 2022

We rated Brighton Oasis Project as Good because:

• People’s individual needs and preferences were central to the delivery of services. People could access services and appointments in a way and at a time that suited them. Staff had alternative pathways for people whose needs it could not meet. The provider ran a separate therapeutic counselling service for the children affected by family drug/alcohol use in treatment. The provider operated a separate creche for the children of parents in treatment. Staff were proactive in their attempts to re-engage clients who missed appointments or stopped the programme before completion. The service was flexible and innovative in meeting the needs of all clients, including those with a protected characteristic or with communication support needs.

• Staff treated clients with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect. Feedback from clients confirmed that staff treated them well and offered them personalised care. Clients were involved in their care planning and encouraged to give feedback about the service. Staff were able to offer support to the children of clients. The service offered clients sanitary products, contraception and essential toiletries. The service organised a ceremony for those clients who completed structured programmes.

• The service provided safe care. The premises where clients were seen were safe and clean. 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. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the female clients undergoing treatment for alcohol and drug addictions and in line with national guidance about best practice. Clients’ physical health was monitored throughout their treatment. Clients gave their consent to treatment and had been given enough information about treatment options and risks. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.

• The service had enough staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep people safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment. The service provided mandatory training in key skills to all staff and made sure everyone completed it. Staff had the knowledge and ability to monitor and recognise the signs of deterioration in clients’ physical and mental health during treatment and how to seek or provide help. Staff worked well together as a multidisciplinary team and relevant services outside the organisation.

• The service was well led, and the governance processes ensured that its procedures ran smoothly.

However:

• Clients’ notes did not clearly document whether clients had received a copy of their care plan.

Updated 5 September 2019