01 December 2021
During an inspection looking at part of the service
We carried out a focused inspection of healthcare services provided by Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (NDHT) at Devon Sexual Health- Exeter (Exeter SARC) on 1st December 2021.
The purpose of this inspection was to determine whether Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust was meeting the legal requirements and regulations under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008. During this inspection we focused on compliance with the requirement notice issued on 1 June 2021 relating to:
Are services well-led?
We found that the provider was compliant with Regulation 17 (1), of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.
We do not currently rate the services provided in sexual assault referral centres.
Background
NHS England commission Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust (NDHT) to deliver a dedicated paediatric service based at Exeter Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) for children and young people up to their 18th birthday. This service provides forensic medical assessments for children and young people from across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly following recent sexual assault. The Exeter SARC also provides medical assessments of children and young people from Devon, Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall following non-recent sexual assault.
We last inspected the service on 18 March 2021 when we judged that NDHT was in breach of CQC regulations. We issued a Requirement Notice on 1 June 2021 in relation to Regulation 17, Good Governance of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. The report on the inspection can be found on our website at https://www.cqc.org.uk/location/RBZ72
The purpose of the inspection was to determine if the registered provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and that patients were receiving safe care and treatment.
This desk based review was conducted by one CQC health and justice inspector and included a review of evidence and telephone calls with staff. Before this review we reviewed the action plan submitted by NDHT to demonstrate how they would achieve compliance, and a range of documents submitted by NDHT.
Documents we reviewed included:
- Service action plan
- Four patient records
- Information gathering proformas used for all patient groups
- Paediatric review meeting minutes
- Case notes audits
We did not visit the SARC to carry out an inspection because we were able to gain sufficient assurance through the documentary evidence provided and telephone calls with staff.
Key findings
At this inspection we found that the provider had addressed concerns highlighted in the requirement notice issued in June 2021, and were now compliant with the relevant regulation.