Archived: CRI Spectrum - Hertfordshire Drug and Alcohol Services (Hertford)

' Cooperating with other providers

' Records

CRI Spectrum Hertford submitted an action plan stating they would be compliant with the outstanding regulations by the end of February 2014. We carried out this inspection, on 05 August 2014, to ensure the action plan had been put into place.

We inspected four sets of both paper and electronic records for people who used the service and found them to be comprehensive and informative. It was evident that there were clear processes in place, which were followed, to ensure collaboration with other agencies to ensure that people who used the service received optimal care and treatment.

Records were clear, accurate and up to date.

People who used the service were encouraged to develop and plan their own treatment, however this was not always recorded in sufficient detail by the staff. People we spoke with were overall positive about their experience with one person telling us, "I have just had my assessment and to be honest I am looking forward to starting, particularly the relapse prevention group."

People's health, safety and welfare was not always protected when more than one provider was involved in their care and treatment. This was because the provider did not always work in co-operation with other services.

People who used the service were protected against the risk of abuse because the provider took steps to address this before it occurred. Staff received appropriate training and development in relation to safeguarding adults and children.

We found that people were protected against the risks associated with medicines because the provider had appropriate arrangements in place to manage medicines.

We spoke with four members of staff who all told us that they felt supported by the management team to perform their role. We saw from records we looked at that staff received regular training and supervisions sessions to support them appropriately. The service was implementing a formal appraisal system to review people's development.

We saw evidence that the service responded to people's feedback and evaluated the quality of the service they provided through regular monitoring and audits.

We looked at the records of eight people who used the service and found that accurate records had not been maintained in relation to people's treatment.