- Community healthcare service
Children & Young People's Community Health Services
All Inspections
27, 28, 29 April and 04 May 2021
During a routine inspection
We rated this service as good because:
The service had enough staff to care for patients and keep them safe. Staff had training in key skills, 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. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. Staff collected safety information and used it to improve the service.
Staff provided good care and advice. Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent. Staff worked well together for the benefit of patients, advised them on how to lead healthier lives, supported them to make decisions about their care, and had access to good information.
Staff treated children, young people and their families 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 children, young people and their families.
The service planned care to meet the needs of local people, took account of children, young people and their families’ individual needs, and made it easy for people to give feedback. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for assessment and advice/referral.
Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the providers values and priorities, and how to apply them in their work. Staff generally felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of children and young people receiving care. Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities. The service engaged well with children, young people and their families and the community to plan and manage services and all staff were committed to improving services continually.
However;
The recent staff survey identified specific pockets of dissatisfied teams and/or roles.
We were not assured that the process to risk assess staffs' 'fitness to practice' in the absence of performing regular Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks following initial DBS check on joining the service was robust.
We were not assured that action to reduce documentation incidents was effective.
We were not assured that communication with external agencies was always timely.
Informal complaints were not reviewed in a manner which allowed oversight.
20 November 2018
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We inspected the community children and young people service which operates from Endeavour House on 20 November 2018. Suffolk County Council provides a range of health services for children and young people aged 0-19 years, and their families living in Suffolk. We inspected this service as an unannounced focused inspection. The last inspection was completed in 2017 and we did not rate the service at that time 6.
When we inspected in 2017 we issued a requirement notice to the provider for failing to provide us with evidence of compliance to Regulation 17 (1) (2) (a) (b). This was because systems and processes were not established nor operated effectively to ensure compliance with the requirements of this regulation. Pre-employment records were not kept up to date and not all staff could access these.
Our key findings were as follows:
- All 0-5 years outcomes reviewed showed that general levels of performance had improved
- A monthly quality dashboard was closely monitored to support agreed targets
- Staff had completed annual appraisals
- Clear processes and systems were now in place.
- Policies and procedures were reviewed and referenced to national guidance and easily accessed by staff.
- Staff records reviewed were complete and contained completed checks.
We found the following areas of good practice:
- Staff provided evidence based care and treatment that followed national guidance. Quality checks of electronic records assured staff that children and young people were on the correct treatment pathway.
- The service promoted and supported breast feeding. The staff had achieved level one accreditation for Baby Friendly initiative (UNICEF)
- Staff supported children and young people to live healthier lives
- Staff had the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment
- There was effective multidisciplinary team work across the service. Staff worked to maintain the child or young person at the centre of their care.
- Staff were aware of their responsibilities to seek individual patient consent, in line with current legislation.
- There was a clinical audit programme across the service to assure senior staff of the effective and safe care delivered to children and young people.
- Staff knew who their managers were and what they were accountable for. Managers knew about the quality issues, priorities and challenges. All staff had a clear knowledge of their role and implemented the vision and purpose of the service.
- Staff described the service’s culture as being open and transparent with managers who were visible, supportive and approachable. The staff were actively engaged in the planning and delivery of the service and were confident in raising any concerns.
- The service had governance, risk management and quality measures to improve patient care, safety and outcomes.
- The patient’s feedback about the service was obtained through the monthly Friends and Family Test key question, asking if they would recommend this service to friends and family.
- The service had checked systems and processes were in place for their compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduced from May 2018.
- Staff were supported with opportunities for further learning and development. Several staff members described how they had developed and progressed within the organisation. Managers spoke of staff development.
On the basis of this inspection, we found the service was now compliant with Regulation 17 and there were no further areas for improvement.
Amanda Stanford
Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals on behalf of the Chief Inspector of Hospitals
5, 10 February 2014
During a routine inspection
The service provided treatment to children and young adults throughout Suffolk including the health visiting services, school nursing service and the 'looked after' children service. These were children who were in the care of their local authority.
The staff we spoke with detailed the assessment and care process which ensured that the needs of the person concerned were identified and showed how they would be met. We looked at electronic care records from each area. These were clear and up to date.
We discussed the quality measures in place which monitored treatment performance, staffing, safeguarding and complaints and provided a detailed picture to the management team. We found that these were effective.
3, 5 December 2012
During a routine inspection
We spoke with some pupils who were using the school nurse's drop-in clinic. They told us that they felt comfortable visiting the clinic. One said, 'I am happy to come here.'
These comments showed that the service was meeting people's needs with due respect for their privacy and confidentiality.
We saw that the records of all contacts by the professional staff with people were up to date. The information was used to analyse the quality of the service and to identify where action needed to be taken to improve for the benefit of the people using the service, and to guide the training of the staff.