31 January 2023
During an inspection looking at part of the service
The Haynes Clinic is a substance misuse inpatient service for males and females in Chicksands in Bedfordshire.
We conducted an on-site inspection to The Haynes Clinic in January 2023. We completed a focused, unannounced inspection, because we received information of concern about the sexual safety of clients and the quality of the service. We inspected the safe domain and have applied a new rating. We also inspected parts of caring, responsive and well led, however we have not applied new ratings to these domains.
Our rating of safe went down. We rated it as requires improvement.
Our findings were:
- We found that not all staff that had direct contact with clients in the service and residential houses had an up to date disclosure and barring certificate or associated risk assessment.
- Clients were not always treated with dignity and respect by therapy staff. Three complaints described treatment at the service as traumatising and emotionally distressing due to the undignified way they were spoken to by staff.
- We found that compliance with mandatory training requirements was below 40% for all staff across office, care and therapy sub teams. There were additional staff employed by the service who were not on the training register.
- Staff supervision and appraisal records were not always meaningful, they lacked new information month by month and did not demonstrate any measurable performance management.
- When complaints were made to the service there was no evidence that an appropriate investigation into the complaint occurred. There was no record within team meeting minutes, staff supervision records or annual staff appraisal records of complaints being shared with the wider staff team. This limited the opportunity for lessons learned, or to identify potential improvements in the service.
- Some policies we reviewed were not robust, they lacked detail and purpose and did not provide a comprehensive instruction for people working at or using the service. The equality and diversity policy and reasonable adjustments statement was not fit for purpose. Staff did not follow the correct procedures for making statutory notifications to the CQC.
- Residential houses and sleeping areas were not always separate for males and females. Although we were told by the service that there are separate male and female houses, there was evidence that some male clients were residing on the female only houses for periods of time during their treatment. Bathrooms were not designated for males and females on the residential houses to support client's privacy.
However:
- The female clients we spoke to said they felt safe at the service.