Dartmouth House

Updated 25 June 2018

Dartmouth House is a long stay/rehabilitation unit for up to 16 men of working age. It is registered to provide care and treatment to people detained under the Mental Health Act. The philosophy of the service is to provide rehabilitation.

The unit opened in July 2016 and at the time of inspection had 14 patients. They provide care for male patients only, aged between 18 and 64 years old.

The service was last inspected in October 2016 when it was rated as good in all 5 domains. This resulted in it being taken out of special measures which were applied because of a previous inspection in July 2015. The organisation had undertaken extensive refurbishment work and changed their statement of purpose from offering care to females to offering care to a male patient group.

The service had a registered manager at the time of our inspection

Updated 25 June 2018

We rated [Dartmouth House as good because:’

• Staff ensured the service was safe for patients by undertaking regular environmental risk assessments relating to potential ligature risks. They provided individual risk assessment for patients and ensured they used the part of the service which was most suitable for their needs. This could include a ligature free room or one with ligatures present for a patient due to be discharged into the community. The service was clean and furniture well maintained and the clinic rooms provided suitable equipment to meet the need of patients.
• Staff ensured care plans had been completed in a timely way. This included information which was holistic, person centred and recovery focussed. Staff reviewed care plans and risk assessments regularly in multidisciplinary team meetings. Staff attended handovers so that information about patients could be shared at the start of every shift.
• Patients stated that staff were caring and respectful. Staff knew patients well and used this as a basis for providing support that was supportive and responsive to patient need. Families and carers had been involved with permission of the patients.
• Patients had their own personalised bedrooms. The service provided quiet rooms and areas for visitors and patients had unrestricted access to the large outside space. The service provided rooms for patients who needed disabled facilities. Staff ensured the food met the dietary, religious and cultural needs of the patients and that they had a degree of choice in the food they had been offered.
• Dartmouth House had a good governance structure in place so that staff felt well supported and able to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Staff received mandatory training and could request specialist training elated to their roles. Staff knew the visions and values of the provider and demonstrated these in the support they offered to patients and each other.

However:

• Not all staff had received regular supervision as set out in the providers policy. The provider had identified the reasons for this and developed a plan for improving access to supervision for staff.

Updated 25 June 2018