The Care Quality Commission
  • Community
  • Community healthcare service

Archived: Dudley Cancer Support

The Whitehouse, 10 Ednam Road, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 2JX (01384) 365014

Provided and run by:
Lymphcare UK CIC

All Inspections

4 and 18 January 2017

During a routine inspection

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 4 January 2017 to ask the service the following key questions: Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led? There are no ratings for this inspection, as we do not currently rate community independent health services.

Background

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 as part of our regulatory functions. This inspection was planned to check whether the service was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

LymphCare UK is a community interest company and a social enterprise that provides comprehensive community lymphoedema services in Dudley and Sandwell. The clinic, located in a Dudley Cancer Support building, is one of three locations where LymphCare UK provides a service. The service also provides home visits for patients that are housebound or have limited mobility. LymphCare UK leases the clinic space from Dudley Cancer Support and is a separate organisation. Dudley Cancer Support provides cleaning services, and the Dudley Cancer Support Health and Safety Officer and first aiders cover the LymphCare UK clinic space as part of the lease agreement. Some patients of LymphCare UK can also register with Dudley Cancer Support to access complimentary therapies and transport services.

The service accepts referrals from any healthcare professional across Dudley and Sandwell. It provides care to patients with all types of lymphoedema, primary or secondary, from chronic oedemas to lipoedema. Lymphoedema is a long-term condition of fluid (lymph) retention and tissue swelling (oedema) in the limbs caused by a compromised lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a part of the circulatory system and is a network of vessels that drains excess fluid from body tissue. Lipoedema is a long-term condition where there is an abnormal build-up of fat (lipid) cells.

LymphCare UK is a specialist nurse-led lymphoedema service. The leadership team consists of two managing directors who are clinical nurse specialists within the service. This team interacts with both the operational and executive boards. There are 11 members of staff employed by LymphCare UK, including the two clinical directors, nursing staff and administration staff. Four of the nurses provide a service from this location.

The clinic at this location is very small. It consists of a small treatment room and a very small waiting area with rest room facilities, and operates from the basement of premises owned by another organisation. These areas rented by LymphCare UK are solely for the use of LymphCare UK patients with a separate external entrance to the main building. There is a separate access for staff to enter the treatment room internally from the main building. There is no office or reception at this location. The service is open Monday to Friday, 9am until 5pm and runs approximately 20 clinics each month.

We gathered information from a number of sources, including data provided by the clinic before our inspection. During our inspection, we visited all areas of the clinic and spoke with nurses and two registered managers for LymphCare UK. We also spoke with patients using the service. We reviewed the staff folders on a recent inspection of LymphCare UK’s main location. This was due to staff working across all three locations and the staff folders being located at the main location.

Our Key Findings:

  • Patients received safe care and treatment in a suitable environment.
  • Staff felt supported in their role.
  • Staff treated patients and their families with dignity and respect.
  • Staff responded to each patient to meet their individual needs.
  • The management team met regularly to review and monitor risks.
  • Leadership was clear and open and the managers were accessible to staff and patients.
  • The senior management team sought feedback from patients and made improvements from this feedback.

We identified regulations that were not being met and the provider must:

  • Ensure that staff maintain an accurate, complete contemporaneous record in respect of each patient and that they keep this information up-to-date.
  • Ensure written consent is documented correctly and clearly in patient notes.
  • Ensure there is a local risk register in place to provide overview of local risks.
  • Ensure all staff are up to date with basic life support training.

You can see full details of the regulations not being met at the end of this report.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

  • Review the data capturing for mandatory training to ensure all staff training is recorded and kept up-to-date.
  • Review the incident reporting process to ensure all reported incidents are collated.

16 January 2014

During a routine inspection

We carried out this inspection to check on the care and welfare of people. We spoke with two people, two members of staff and the manager.

People we spoke with told us they were happy with the service they received and their privacy, dignity and independence was respected by nursing staff at all times throughout their treatment. One person said, "Staff talk to me not at me".

Records showed that people's needs were identified through an assessment process and a care plan was used to set out how their needs would be met.

We found the environment to be clean and tidy. One person said, "Staff always put on gloves before they treat me".

We found that nursing staff were supported to do their job and treat people.

The provider had a complaints process in place so people were able to share their views.

30 November 2012

During a routine inspection

We spoke to a person attending the Lymphoedema Clinic. She said the service and the staff were very good. She was more that satisfied with the care and reassurance provided by the staff team at the clinic. She said that she could contact the nurses between appointments if she had any concerns and they would provide advice and support. She told us about the card she carried which is very useful to alert other clinicians about her condition and the correct antibiotics to prescribe if required.

We spoke to the Registered Manager who works as one of the team of Lymphoedema nurses. She was very enthusiastic and said team were dedicated to continue to develop the quality of the service. She told us about the way in which the service has developed since it was established with improvements in treatments, the information provided and documentation used in the clinics. She told us about the development of home loan equipment which is provided for some people so that they can continue their treatment at home and reduce their attendance at clinic.