Addcounsel Limited

Updated 20 July 2022

Addcounsel is an independent healthcare service which provides assessment and multi-disciplinary treatment services to adults experiencing addiction and mental health problems. These include disorders associated with drugs, alcohol, sex and gambling, as well as mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress. The service also provides physical examinations, prescribing and administration of medicines, and care and support during treatment.

Services are provided within client’s own homes, at privately sourced accommodation or in privately rented office spaces. The service supports anyone aged 18 years or over.

At the time of inspection, the service had four active clients across its services. Each client is individually supported by their own dedicated treatment team. The service had not supported anyone with opioid detoxification in the past two years. Most recently they had supported people who were in recovery from alcohol use and those with mental health concerns.

The service directly employs three staff members; the chief executive officer, the mental health administrator and the registered manager who was also the clinical operations manager.

Clients receive support from a multi-disciplinary team of professionals, including consultant psychiatrists, registered nurses, recovery managers, psychologists, private GPs and therapy staff who were recruited to Addcounsel on a sessional basis. They work for the company on a sessional basis depending on need.

The service registered with the Care Quality Commission in April 2017. The service was inspected in February 2018.The service was not rated at this time.

The service is registered to provide treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

What people who use the service say

Clients and carers were very complimentary of the staff and the service they received.

Clients felt involved in their care and treatment plans. Staff were approachable and easy to contact.

Updated 20 July 2022

Addcounsel is an independent healthcare provider offering assessment and treatment to adults with mental health concerns or substance misuse. This service was inspected in 2018, but was not rated. During this inspection we rated the service for the first time.

We rated it as requires improvement because:

• Documentation was not always available to show staff were recruited safely and robustly or that they had received basic training to keep themselves and clients safe.
• The service was not adequately assured their sessional staff were receiving supervision and appraisals.
• Medication administration charts were not always fully completed. There were gaps when prescribing as required medicines, such as doctors’ signatures and maximum doses.
• Governance processes did not always operate effectively, for example, the service did not always hold governance meetings within the timeframes they had set out.
• The service did not always highlight potential ligature points throughout the service.
• At the time of inspection, clinical areas were visibly clean. However, cleaning records were not always completed in full. Since the inspection the service has provided updated cleaning records.

However:

• Staff developed holistic, recovery-oriented care plans informed by a comprehensive assessment. They provided a range of treatments suitable to the needs of the clients and in line with national guidance about best practice. Staff engaged in clinical audit to evaluate the quality of care they provided.
• The service had access to the full range of specialists required to meet the needs of clients under their care. Staff from different disciplines worked together as a team to benefit clients. They supported each other to make sure clients had no gaps in their care.
• Staff treated clients with compassion and kindness and understood the individual needs of clients.
• Staff involved clients in care planning and risk assessment and actively sought their feedback on the quality of care provided. They ensured that clients had easy access to additional support.
• Leaders had the skills, knowledge and experience to perform their roles and had a good understanding of the services they managed. Leaders were visible in the service and approachable for clients and staff.

Updated 20 July 2022

See the summary above for details.