Brainkind Neurological Centre York

Ratings - Services for people with acquired brain injury

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Requires improvement

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

At our last inspection we rated the service overall as good.

Our rating of the service ​stayed the same​. We rated them as ​good​ because:

• Staff completed and regularly updated thorough risk assessments of all ward areas and removed or reduced any risks they identified.
• The service had enough nursing and medical staff, who knew people and received basic training to keep people safe from avoidable harm.
• Staff assessed and managed risks to people and themselves well and followed best practice in anticipating, de-escalating and managing challenging behaviour.
• Staff followed policy when using restrictive interventions. We found that there was good oversight of the use of restrictive intervention by managers and leaders.
• Staff understood how to protect people from abuse and the service worked well with other agencies to do so. Staff had training on how to recognise and report abuse and they knew how to apply it.
• Care plans reflected people’s assessed needs, and were personalised, holistic and recovery oriented.
• Ward teams had effective working relationships with other relevant teams within the organisation and with relevant services outside the organisation.
• There were effective bed management processes in place.
• The service treated concerns and complaints seriously, investigated them and learned lessons from the results, and shared these with the whole team and wider service.
• Leaders had a good understanding of the services they managed and could explain clearly how teams worked to provide high quality care.

However:

• There were not effective systems and processes to safely prescribe, administer, record and store medicines. Staff did not ensure that medicines were stored correctly and were in date. Staff did not always identify and correct prescribing errors.

We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this inspection.

People's experience of this service

People said they felt safe and supported. They said the environment was safe, clean and well-maintained. People told us that they were involved in their care and that they attended meetings with their families where they were able to give feedback.  

Some people told us there was a lack of meaningful activities on the wards. They said staff did not always have time to offer them one-to-one support. People said they did not always think there were enough staff and said that they would like to be able to go out into the community more often. Most people said the quality and variety of food could be improved. 

Feedback from carers was overwhelmingly positive. Carers consistently highlighted staff's proactive and supportive communication. They said they received updates on people’s care and treatment.  They told us staff provided reassurance and built their trust. 

Carers said they were satisfied with the care and treatment people received. Many families said the service was the best one they had experienced, and no one raised any significant concerns or complaints.