Archived: Brook Cornwall

Brook Cornwall is part of the larger organisation Brook Young People and provides confidential sexual health services, support, and advice to young people under the age of 25. Brook Young People was formed from previous Brook Charities which merged in 2013. This is the first inspection of Brook Cornwall since this merge took place.

Brook Cornwall is registered to provide care and treatment under the following regulated activities: diagnostic and screening services, family planning and treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

We regulate independent community sexual health services but we do not currently have a legal duty to rate them. We highlight good practice and issues that service providers need to improve and take regulatory action as necessary.

During the inspection, we reviewed documentation such as care and treatment records. We spoke with young people attending the clinics and staff working at the service to seek their views.

We found the following areas of good practice:

• The organisation had available key performance indicators and safety performance data which, was reported to the commissioners of the service. Staff reported incidents through the organisations reporting systems and action was taken to address the issue and provide feedback to staff.

• Children and young people were protected and safeguarded against abuse by the organisation’s policies, procedures, staff training and systems. Referrals and reports were made when required to external organisations to ensure the young person or child received the support required.

• The premises and equipment were clean, hygienic in appearance and maintained and serviced to ensure they were safe for use when delivering care and treatment.

• Medicines and equipment were in place to use in the event of an emergency situation. Staff were knowledgeable about when they would seek further help from the emergency services.

• Staff followed national guidelines and good practice recommendations when delivering care and treatment. Outcomes for patients was reported to the commissioners of the service every month and showed that patient outcomes were good.

• Staff were competent and knowledgeable when delivering a sexual health level two service and worked well as part of a multi-disciplinary team both within the service and with external professionals.

• The health and social care records for young people were accessible to staff when they attended the clinics which provided a history of their previous visits and any relevant information.

• Staff sought consent from children and young people prior to delivering any care or treatment.

• Young people we spoke with commented that staff were kind, helpful and welcoming. We found that staff provided a caring service to children and young people who used the service. Young people said they felt able to ask questions of the staff about their care and treatment. Information was provided to children and young people in a way that was understandable.

• Clinics were held around the county at varied times and days to enable access for children and young people. A 24 hour on line service was available for children and young people to access information regarding sexual health issues.

• The organisation provided information for staff regarding equalities and diversity. All staff had access to a language translation and interpretation telephone service to support young people attending the clinics whose first language was not English.

• Brook Cornwall had a service vision and strategy. Staff demonstrated the organisational vision through their discussion with us during the inspection. A clear organisational and management structure was in place within the organisation.

• Staff felt supported in their roles by local managers and found them approachable and helpful. Systems were in place to enable the organisation to monitor the governance, risk management and quality measurements of the service provided.

• The organisation consulted with children, young people and staff to seek their views of the service delivered and provided.

However, at this inspection, we found the following areas the provider needs to improve:

• There were not consistent processes or systems in place to protect staff when they were working alone in clinics.

• Safeguarding referrals were on occasions delayed in being reported to external organisations. Detailed information was not consistently reported to the safeguarding lead within the organisation to enable a national oversight of themes and trends.

• Recommendations from audits were not monitored until the following year. Therefore it was not clear that changes in practice had taken place as a result of the audit.

• While staff were competent and experienced when carrying out procedures, there was not a consistent programme of training for all treatments. For example, carrying out reassessment checks and chaperoning. Not all staff were provided with formal supervision with their manager.

• Information for children and young people to inform them how to make a complaint was not clearly available.

Professor Edward Baker

Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals (Hospitals)