Beacon House

Updated 8 June 2022

Beacon house is registered with the CQC under the inspection category of ‘Independent Consulting Doctors Service’ and the inspection type of ‘Independent Healthcare Organisation’. The services delivered are primary healthcare services to adults only. The healthcare clinic provides care and treatment which includes access to health services, physical health, mental health, drugs and alcohol cessation support, vaccination and health screening.

They are located at:

Beacon House

24 Crouch Street

Colchester

Essex

CO3 3ES

website http://www.beaconhouseminstries.org.uk

The service is regulated to provide:

• Diagnostic and screening procedures
• Treatment of disease, disorder or injury

The service is open between 10am to 2pm Monday to Friday.

Beacon House is operated by Beacon House Ministries a Christian charity. Beacon House provides primary healthcare services in Colchester and Essex to homeless patients, those in insecure accommodation and those at high risk of homelessness. The clinic provides care and treatment to adults only which includes access to health services, physical healthcare, mental healthcare, drugs and alcohol support, vaccinations, and health screening. Health and well-being assessments are offered to all new patients using the healthcare service. Over the last year the healthcare service has provided 1,536 appointments to 544 patients. Two registered nurses and a healthcare assistant oversee the clinic. Beacon House also offers patients practical help and a wide range of wellbeing services to meet their needs which includes showering facilities, laundry, a food bank, clothing and toiletry provisions, a café offering hot food/meals and drinks. In addition, life skills classes are offered including computing, support around cooking and budgeting, counselling, a computer suite and an arts and crafts room. The provider works in partnership with other services and organisations to provide support such as specialist services with the local authority, alcohol and drug services. We did not inspect the services that fall outside the scope of regulation.

How we inspected this service

We requested information from the provider and reviewed this prior to the inspection site visit. The methods we used on site, were talking to the provider, a review of documents, policies, risk assessments, and procedures. We received feedback about the service through 20 completed comment cards and spoke with five patients using the service during the inspection.

To get to the heart of patients’ experiences of care and treatment, we always ask the following five questions:

• Is it safe?

• Is it effective?

• Is it caring?

• Is it responsive to patient’s needs?

• Is it well-led?

These questions therefore formed the framework for the areas we looked at during the inspection.

Updated 8 June 2022

This service is rated as Good overall. (Previous inspection 14 July 2017 was an unrated inspection).

The key questions are rated as:

Are services safe? – Good

Are services effective? – Good

Are services caring? – Good

Are services responsive? – Good

Are services well-led? – Good

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection at Beacon House as part of our inspection programme, to follow-up on breaches of regulations found at the previous inspection, and to rate the provider.

At the last inspection we issued the provider with requirement notices. We checked all the areas of concern identified at the previous inspection as part of this inspection. We found that the necessary improvements had been made and embedded at the service.

Beacon House Ministries is a Christian charity established to help homeless Patients, those in insecure accommodation and those at high risk of homelessness. Beacon House is operated by Beacon House Ministries. Beacon House offers practical help and a wide range of wellbeing services in Colchester and Essex. The service provides primary healthcare services to adults only. The healthcare clinic provides care and treatment which includes access to health services, physical health, mental health, drugs and alcohol support, vaccination and health screening. Health and well-being assessments are offered to all new clients. The clinic is open from Monday to Friday between the hours of 10am and 2pm.

This service is registered with CQC under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 in respect of some, but not all, of the services it provides. There are some exemptions from regulation by CQC which relate to particular types of regulated activities and services and these are set out in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Beacon House provides a range of services, which are not within CQC scope of registration. Therefore, we did not inspect or report on these services.

Our inspection focused on the regulated activities delivered within the health clinic only.

The lead nurse employed at Beacon House is the registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated regulations about how the service is run.

We received feedback about the service through 20 completed comment cards and spoke with five patients using the service during the inspection.

Our key findings were:

• The service provided care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm.
• Dignity and respect concerns had been resolved since the last inspection with updated procedures seen during the inspection.
• The provider cared for patients in a kind and respectful manner, involving them in their decisions about their care treatments.
• Patients received care and treatment that met their expectations. They organised and delivered care and treatments to meet patients’ needs.
• The risk assessment system seen during this inspection addressed all the concerns previously identified to deliver safe care and treatment and mitigate risks.
• We found appropriate resuscitation equipment and securely and appropriately stored emergency medicines.
• Although the service was for adults only, safeguarding children training was undertaken.
• Complaints and concerns were seen to be acted on appropriately and within a timely manner.
• The registered manager of the service was able to explain how they would inform the CQC of changes to their service delivery.
• The provider had a systematic audit programme to assess, monitor and identify improvements in the service.
• The process to identify and act on significant incidents at Beacon House showed the actions they had taken and the learning to improve.
• Clinical staff supervision was seen in clinical staff records with competency checks. The clinicians had received appropriate training and development.
• There was a duty of candour policy and the statement of purpose for the service had been updated and submitted to the CQC.

We saw the following outstanding practice:

• The service was the winner of the Equalities film competition achieving ‘best film’ the film has been used in local healthcare settings for those with a learning disability to understand the importance of cervical screening and increased the uptake within the community. The service has seen an increased uptake of screening from 20% of those eligible for screening to 48% in the last year for this hard to reach group. The film has been available on the community 360 website, social media and the Suffolk and North East Essex ICS website.

The areas where the provider should make improvements are:

• Continue to record and be clear about the actions taken by the service to resolve issues and the learning gained for all the complaints and significant events in their documentation.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth BM BS BMedSci MRCGP

Chief Inspector of Primary Medical Services and Integrated Care