Archived: Addaction - Liskeard

Updated 3 May 2017

Addaction Liskeard is a community service for adults in North and East Cornwall affected by substance misuse. It is the largest geographical location of the three Addaction locations in Cornwall and is based in Liskeard.

Addaction Liskeard is the main hub office for clients and staff in North and East Cornwall. The service is open 6 days a week and offers one to one recovery focussed support, structured group sessions and needle exchange programmes to people affected by substance misuse. The service operates from rooms in GP surgeries, community centres across North and East Cornwall.

Addaction Liskeard is commissioned by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Drug and Alcohol Action Team. The service provides specialist community support for adults affected by drug and alcohol misuse. The service provides recovery focussed support through individual and group delivered interventions and includes a criminal justice team that supports offenders to address their substance misuse. They work closely with NHS services and local charities to provide holistic care.

Addaction Liskeard is registered by the CQC to provide the following specialisms/services:

• diagnostic and screening procedures

• substance misuse problems

• treatment of disease, disorder or injury.

CQC does not currently rate substance misuse services.

Updated 3 May 2017

We do not currently rate independent standalone substance misuse services.

We found the following areas of good practice:

Clients gave positive feedback about their one to one care. They told us they felt respected and supported. The service engaged people and considered equality and human rights by catering for and valuing clients’ differences. People were seen quickly and there were no waits for the service.

Staff proactively followed up clients when they missed appointments and supported people who were more reluctant to fully engage in services.

The provider delivered responsive medical and clinical interventions and staff commented positively about the availability of doctors and nurses for advice and support. The service managed medicines safely. Good communication between GPs, pharmacies and the service meant that everyone was aware of changes to peoples prescribed medicines.

Staff and volunteers were appropriately trained, appraised, supervised, and attended regular staff meetings. Managers undertook leadership courses and staff undertook a range of specialist training.

All staff we spoke with was passionate about their work.

The service worked in collaboration with other agencies and stakeholders were positive about the work of Addiction Liskeard and described good communication links with the service.

However, we also found the following issues that the service provider needs to improve:

Some staff such as nursing and criminal justice staff felt that they had manageable workloads. However, some staff, particularly recovery coordinators felt under pressure due to their high caseloads. We were concerned that high caseloads were having a direct effect on staff morale. Staff turnover was high with more than a quarter of the staff having left in the last year.

Staff did not have protected time for training and vacant posts were covered by existing staff. There were two vacancies at the time of our inspection. Clients shared the workforce concerns about pressure on some staff, such as volunteers and recovery coordinators.

We were concerned about the number of clients that expressed that there were not enough groups at Addaction Liskeard. Staff shared the clients concerns about the lack of group delivered interventions the service offered.

We were also concerned that despite the robust systems in place for learning and listening, some staff and clients did not feel listened to about their concerns about staff workloads and lack of groups.

Staff did not always update care plans and did not always plan for clients unexpectedly leaving treatment early.