Equilibrium Project

Updated 10 June 2019

The service offers a community assisted alcohol detoxification service. Based on the Isle of Wight, the service provides treatment to clients who self-refer for treatment anywhere within England. The provider had treated eight clients at the time of the inspection. Most detoxification treatments take place within the client’s own home. If the client does not have a suitable place for the detoxification the provider has a link with a bed and breakfast that enables the client to have the treatment on the Isle of Wight. The bed and breakfast facilities are not linked to the treatment. However, the service’s website does advertise that clients can come to the Isle of Wight to the companies respite and retreat centre, which suggests that they provide residential accommodation as part of the treatment. The provider offers counselling and life coaching services, these are offered separately to the alcohol detoxification.

At the time of the inspection the provider was registered to provide the registered activity of treatment of disease, disorder or injury. We are working with the provider to ensure they are correctly registered to provide the treatments and services they offer.

There were two registered managers at the time of the inspection who where the only employees of the provider.

Updated 10 June 2019

We rated The Equilibrium Project as good because:

• There were enough staff to provide safe care and they carried out risk assessments to check the suitability of clients for a community detoxification programme. Medication was adjusted to make sure it met the client’s needs. There were policies in place to report and learn from incidents.
• The clients’ physical and mental health was assessed to make sure they were suitable for treatment. Staff followed National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance when providing treatment. The registered managers had appropriate experience and received clinical supervision from an appropriate professional.
• The staff referred clients on to appropriate services, when needed, and gave clients information about local services. Clients, and when appropriate families, were involved in planning their care and recovery plans. The service actively asked for feedback from clients.
• The service had a clear inclusion and exclusion criteria and meet with clients within 48 hours. The team offered ongoing telephone support free of charge to clients following treatment. Information was provided in a way the clients would understand. Nurses used reflective practice to review care.
• The registered managers had leadership experience and were committed to improving the service. There were governance processes in place and these were being built into the electronic record system.

However:

• The independent prescriber did not contact the client’s GP before starting treatment. Nurses dispensed medication into a compliance aid for clients on a daily basis when altering the dose of the detoxification medicines, this practice is known as secondary dispensing and increases the risk of a medicines error. There was no policy on reporting accidents.

Updated 10 June 2019